New Delhi: The T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in India is being shifted to the UAE owing to the health safety concerns. The health concerns have been posed by the pandemic Covid-19, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said Monday. He thus ended weeks of speculation surrounding the mega-event in October-November. “We have officially intimated the ICC that the T20 World Cup can be shifted to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The details are being chalked out,” Sourav Ganguly said. “The decision was taken keeping health safety concerns of all stakeholders in mind,” he added.
The BCCI will, however, remain the hosts of the showpiece.
Ganguly was asked if October 17 has been finalised as the start date of the tournament. “We will be able to finalise itinerary details in some days. October 17 start hasn’t yet been finalised,” Ganguly said.
Even an ICC spokesperson confirmed that the global body is yet to zero in on a final schedule.
The ICC, at the start of the month, had given BCCI a four-week window. In this period the BCCI was to decide and inform whether India could host the marquee event. 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.
It was a foregone conclusion that India will find it difficult to host a 16-country tournament across nine cities. This is because so many layers of health security concerns being there.
In fact, the ICC had already started its preparations and logistics for the tournament which will be held in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
The qualifying round could be held in Muscat, which will give ideal time to the pitches in UAE to freshen up. The pitches will need some rest after 31 remaining games of IPL are held till October 15.
Once the IPL was shifted to the UAE, it was a foregone conclusion that the T20 World Cup will move too given the looming concerns about a possible third wave of Covid-19 infection around that time.
“If the BCCI is unable to host an eight-team IPL in September, how could it have hosted World T20 within a month? Also now we have a new variant (Delta 3) and there is every possibility of a third wave in the country in October. The BCCI brass was always well aware that it won’t be practically feasible,” an ICC board member said on conditions of anonymity.
Also, India is on the ‘Red List’ of countries like England and Australia. Travelling could be an issue if the rules are not relaxed by then.
It is also understood that most of the member nations were comfortable playing the IPL in the UAE after multiple cases of bubble breach happened during the postponed edition in India. Also the 2020 IPL in the UAE was a humongous success with a tight bio-bubble.
The Indian team, with their T20 players, will reach Dubai from Manchester September 15 aboard a charter flight to play in the IPL. They will be based in the UAE for close to two months till the second week of November when the T20 World Cup ends.