India could lose hosting rights for T20 World Cup after IPL 2021 suspension – Report

It is reported that India could lose hosting rights for the T20 World Cup after the 14th season of the Indian Premier League 2021 was called off indefinitely.

It is understood that the UAE could emerge as a potent back-up contender to host the T20 World Cup in which the 16 teams will participate.

The T20 World Cup was expected to begin in late October and the final will be played on November 14. Meanwhile, ICC team of experts from the biosafety, events and security wings was expected to visit India from April 26. But the team couldn’t come to India due to the second wave of Covid-19 and travel bans from and to UAE.

“The ICC is in contact with the Emirates Cricket Board regarding hosting of the ICC World T20 in the UAE and we can say that almost 80 to 90 percent of matters have been discussed and issues sorted out. Now the ICC and the BCCI are in the final stage of discussion about shifting the mega event to the UAE and an announcement to this effect is likely to be made in the next two weeks,” said one of the sources in contact with The Dawn.

With IPL 2021 getting suspended indefinitely and as the situation in India is expected to get worse, according to the medical experts, it will be a guile decision to move the T20 World Cup to UAE. In fact, the BCCI had successfully hosted IPL 2020 in the UAE amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the Indian Premier League Governing Council is reported to have asked BCCI to host the IPL 2021 in UAE but the Indian board didn’t take the suggestion, which has proven to be a costly mistake.

Meanwhile, India had hosted the 2016 T20 World Cup, which was the last time the event was organised. The T20 World Cup was slated to be hosted in 2020 by Australia but it was called off due to a coronavirus pandemic. Australia will host the T20 World Cup in 2022.