BCCI confirms T20 World Cup moved officially outside India to UAE
The 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup has been shifted officially outside India to UAE, confirmed BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Monday (June 28). The former skipper told PTI that the marquee ICC event won’t be hosted in India anymore, although, as ICC had confirmed recently, the hosting rights for the tournament will stay with BCCI.
“We have officially intimated the ICC that the T20 World Cup can be shifted to the United Arab Emirates,” Ganguly said. “The details are being chalked out.”
The decision helps ICC go ahead swiftly with their preparations for the T20 World Cup. The governing body had given the BCCI a four-week period to decide whether it can host the tournament’s seventh edition in India amid a ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly confirmed the shifting of T20 World Cup outside India
BCCI confirms T20 World Cup moved officially outside India to UAE
The BCCI, which had to suspend the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 midway in early May after the bubbles in Delhi and Ahmedabad didn’t prove immune from the second wave, had recently announced plans to conduct the remaining of the league’s matches in UAE in September-October.
Now the UAE is also set to host to the T20 World Cup, with Oman playing co-host to one half of the tournament’s preliminary group round. While the dates and venues are yet awaited, the competition is reportedly due to start on October 17 and run until its finale on November 14.
The 16-team event will be played in three rounds of games. In the first round, featuring 12 matches, eight teams – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, Oman, Papua New Guinea – will be divided into two groups of four each to decide the top 2 seedings from each preliminary group towards the next round.
In round two – the Super 12s round – India, Afghanistan, England, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia will be joined by those four qualifiers in their respective groups of six each to determine the semi-finalists. The third round will comprise of the knock-outs.
The idea behind using one of the venues in Oman for half of the first round matches is to ensure the pitches in UAE – which would have much wear and tear after a month of IPL cricket – are fresh for the T20 World Cup matches and fans can witness some gripping cricket.