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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had time till June 28 to inform the International Cricket Council (ICC) if it was possible to host the 2021 T20 World Cup in India which was scheduled to take place towards the end of 2021.
The BCCI announced on June 28 that they had decided to move the T20 World Cup out of India as it was no longer feasible to host the World Cup in India. The BCCI had to suspend its 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 tournament in May 2021 after the COVID-19 situation in India escalated.
India has been devastated in recent months with a massive outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic that resulted in over 300,000 deaths on a daily basis throughout the country.
Most of the country is coming out of another extended lockdown and the COVID-19 situation is under control.
However the BCCI has decided not to take a chance like it did with the 2021 IPL and informed the ICC of its decision to not host the T20 World Cup in India but to shift it to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The BCCI successfully hosted the 2020 IPL in the UAE and plans on hosting the remainder of the 2021 IPL in the UAE.
UAE To Host T20 World Cup
The UAE will host the T20 World Cup in terms of hosting all of the cricket matches but the BCCI will continue to be the main hosts of the T20 World Cup and will be responsible for organizing and pulling off the T20 World Cup later this year. No official dates have been released as of now but reports suggest that the tournament will take place from 17 October to 14 November.
The Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi and the Sharjah Cricket Stadium will be the three main stadiums that will host the T20 World Cup. However there are on-going talks with the BCCI and Oman cricket regarding hosting the first stage of the T20 World Cup at the Muscat cricket stadium which is currently being developed.
The first stage of T20 World Cup games will see 8 teams play each other and four of them will the make it to the Super 12 stage. The 8 teams that are most likely to play in Oman include Netherlands, Bangladesh, Scotland, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Ireland and Oman.
