The International Cricket Council (ICC) indicated of organizing the T20 World Cup in February-March next year in order to open opportunity to stage the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) in September-October during the chief executives’ committee meeting on Thursday, Cricket Age reliably learns.
The outbreak of Coronavirus has brought cricket activities, just like every other sport, to a standstill. The ICC is in process of formulating contingency plans and a future course of action when cricket finally resumes. As many as eight options for the T20 World Cup were on the table during the meeting, which was attended by 12 full ICC members and three associate members.
“Even though it’s a bit early but three options have been shortlisted. The first is to stick to the original Oct-Nov schedule and the second is to the tournament in Feb-March next year. The third and last option that was zeroed in on is to stage the tournament in 2022,” one of the representative, who was part of the meeting, told Cricket Age.
“Most likely, they (ICC and member Boards) will move towards hosting the T20 World Cup in Feb-March,” the source added.
The postponement of the T20 World Cup opens up a window for the IPL, which was scheduled to start from March 29 but has been suspended due to the Coronavirus. Once the impact of Coronavirus reduces the possibility of staging the IPL in September-October also improves and the tournament may provide as a preparatory ground for the T20 World Cup.
“As for the World Test Championship, the BCCI has maintained the importance of World Test Championship and it is unlikely that the points will be shared. The Test schedules will be altered with and in all likelihood, the final, which was scheduled in June 2021, will be moved to 2022,” the representative added.
No final decision was taken in the meeting and the ICC will continue to review the situation but it’s becoming increasingly clear that the T20 World Cup may be moved to Feb-March 2021.
