BCCI Hints At T20 World Cup Venue Shift to UAE

As Covid19 cases in India are increasing, it has become difficult to continue any event. IPL 2021 is currently going on, but many players are backing out.

The second wave of coronavirus has hit India hard; people are panicking as the number of cases keeps increasing. Amidst all this, when a player says he wants to withdraw from IPL to go back to his home country, it would be justified.

After IPL, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would be gearing up for T20 World Cup to be held later this year. But seeing that it can take a lot more time for the situation to get better, the BCCI has put United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a backup option.

International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that India is still their first option. But they are keeping everything in mind while planning the tournament. That is why UAE has been thought of as the second option. The venue will be shifted but the management will still be under BCCI.

The tournament director for the T20 World Cup, Dhiraj Malhotra, said on the BBC's Stumped podcast that they are keeping the options ready. It will be a normal case scenario, COVID scenario and worst-case scenario. Discussion with ICC is going on. The tournament will be in October, so nothing can be said at this point. We should see if people can buy tickets and travel to watch the match in the stadium. That will depend on the situation.

The UAE also became the backup for IPL 2020. Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah were three venues where the matches were held. It all went very smoothly with Covid regulations and Bio-Bubble format being followed. As UAE proved to be such a secure venue for IPL, last year; the Board is hoping to conduct T20 in UAE as well.

It all depends on the Covid situation now. T20 World Cup was to be held in 2020 in India, but due to the cases and lockdown, it was shifted to 2021. But even now, it seems unlikely that the tournament will be held here.