ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 postponed due to coronavirus
July 21, 2020
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 has been officially postponed after the ICC board met virtually on Monday.
The global event was supposed to be held from October 18 to November 15 in Australia but the country’s cricket board had, in May itself, expressed its inability to host amid a second surge of COVID-19 cases in the state of Victoria.
The postponement paves the way for the BCCI to organise this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) in October-November, likely in the UAE. As per the ICC release, “disruption caused by COVID-19” forced the T20 World Cup postponement.
The decision regarding this was taken in the global body’s IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC) meeting today. The global body has created two windows to hold the postponed event.
As per an ICC release, back-to-back T20 World Cups will be held in 2021 and 2022, but with an eye to the pandemic, the game’s governing body hasn’t taken a call on the sequence with regards to the host nations. India was originally scheduled to host the next year’s T20 World Cup, but following the postponement, this can change.
“At today’s meeting, windows for the next three ICC men’s events were also agreed to bring clarity to the calendar and give the sport the best possible opportunity,” the ICC said in a statement after a meeting.
The windows for the Men’s events are:
– ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held October – November 2021 with the final on 14 November 2021
– ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held October – November 2022 with the final on 13 November 2022
– ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in India October – November 2023 with the final on 26 November 2023
“We have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport,” said ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney in a statement.
“The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world.”
“Our members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Throughout this process we have worked closely with our key stakeholders including governments, members, broadcasters, partners, and medical experts to enable us to reach a collective decision for the good of the game and our fans.”
“I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment to a safe return to cricket.”
