New
Delhi, Jun 5: The marquee T20 World Cup in October-November is
set to be shifted to the UAE and Oman with the BCCI having internally intimated
the ICC to go ahead with its preparation due to a tricky COVID-19 situation in
India. While the UAE was always the first back-up option, Oman's capital Muscat
has been added as the fourth venue, apart from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah,
for the tournament that will start in the last week of October. "Yes, the
BCCI, during the ICC board meeting, has formally asked for a four-week window
to take a final call but, internally, they have said that they would like to
keep the hosting rights and wouldn't mind the tournament being held in UAE and
Oman," a senior board official, privy to ICC board developments, told PTI
on the condition of anonymity.
A
majority of the ICC board members believe that India is trying to bide time as
they take stock of the situation at a time when it is very difficult to predict
how things pan out in October-November. "If you think about it
practically, India is now reporting around 120,000 plus cases which is close to
one third of what was being reported at the end of April and start of this month.
"But sitting on June 28, if you say "yes" to holding the World
T20 in India, how can you predict the health situation in October if there is a
third wave," the seasoned official asked. The second question is if the
BCCI is wary of resuming the eight-team IPL in September in India, how can it
hold a 16-team event in the country within a month's time. "Look, everyone including BCCI brass
knows that monsoon is not a good enough reason and it is COVID-19, with almost
2500 crore revenue riding on the tournament. "In a 16-team event, if there
is one team that gets affected in a bubble with multiple cases, it won't be
like the IPL. For weaker national teams, you won't get ready replacements
outside 14 or 15 men. There are teething issues," an official of an
associate nation, which is a part of the tournament, said. He said that Muscat
has been zeroed in specifically for the preliminary rounds of the 16-team
competition, which will also allow the three UAE grounds to get sufficient time
to freshen up after 31 IPL games. "If IPL finishes by October 10, then the
UAE leg of World T20 can start off in November which would give three weeks'
time to the pitches to be spruced up for the global event. In the meanwhile,
the first week can be held in Oman," he said.
Another
"elephant in the room" is how many overseas players would like to
risk coming to India for the tournament if the situation doesn't improve
drastically. "They would certainly come and play the IPL in the UAE and
would be more than happy to play the T20 World Cup over there. "But one
can be rest assured that there would be apprehensions with regards to health
safety with players' families and their boards and the local cricket
association would give them an update on health threat perceptions. It would be
easier said than done," the official said.
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