ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 postponed due to coronavirus, opens doors for IPL

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 scheduled to take place in Australia this year 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 but the country’s cricket board expressed its inability to host the massive tournament amid a second surge of COVID-19 cases in the state of Victoria.

Future dates?

Due to the uncertainty about when it will be safe to again host a major sporting event with full stadiums, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said it will continue to assess the impact of COVID-19 before making a final decision.

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

Opens doors for IPL?

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is rumoured to be hosted by United Arab Emirates (UAE). The tournament was only possible if the scheduled ICC T20 World Cup would get postponed, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Apex Council member said.

BCCI are also looking at a shortened window of 5 to 6 weeks for IPL 2020 between September and early November.

"We had a discussion on domestic cricket, but at the moment we are looking at the situation, no concrete decision was taken because of the situation until you get government clearance you can not decide anything, we have to conduct training camp for the players, we cannot go to NCA as Bengaluru is witnessing a surge in COVID cases."