The T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in India is being shifted to the UAE owing to the health safety concerns posed by COVID-19, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said on Monday.
The mega-event is to be held in October-November.
“We have officially intimated the ICC that the T20 World Cup can be shifted to the United Arab Emirates. The details are being chalked out,” Ganguly said.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah also said on Monday that the board will inform the International Cricket Council (ICC) about the World Twenty20 being shifted to UAE from India. He further said that the ICC will decide the dates for the tournament.
“We will inform the International Cricket Council today that we are shifting T20 World Cup to UAE. Dates will be decided by the ICC,” Shah said.
The coronavirus cases might have gone down in India significantly, but the BCCI took the decision to shift the showpiece event to UAE – which will also host the remaining matches of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
The ICC, at the start of the month, had given BCCI a four-week window to decide and inform whether India could host the marquee event considering the COVID-19 situation in the country. This was after the pandemic forced the postponement of IPL, the second part of which is also being held in the UAE in September-October.
