United Arab Emirates on standby to host Twenty20 World Cup
United Arab Emirates on standby to host Twenty20 World Cup in October should escalating Covid-19 cases in India force organisers into a switch
- India are set to host the Twenty20 World Cup but Covid cases are on the rise
- United Arab Emirates are on standby to take over if it becomes necessary
- ICC sources say it is too early to make a call with the tournament six months away
The United Arab Emirates is on standby to host this year’s Twenty20 World Cup should escalating Covid rates in India make a switch necessary.
Although ICC sources say it is too early to make a call on a tournament that is due to get under way in just under six months, they are ‘monitoring the situation closely’ and have been in regular dialogue with the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Sri Lanka has also been mooted as an alternative option, but the UAE is the preferred choice as a country with a relatively small population of nine million and a young demographic.
There are concerns over the Twenty20 World Cup with growing Covid-19 cases in India
Stars including Ravichandran Ashwin have pulled out of the Indian Premier League
Official new daily infections in India top 350,000, and unofficial ones suggest the numbers are far greater.
Either way, they are at a much higher level than last autumn when the BCCI themselves shifted the postponed 2020 Indian Premier League to the Emirates.
An ICC delegation is currently in India, which last week proposed nine venues for the month-long tournament, due to start midway through October and conclude with a final at the world’s biggest cricket ground — the 130,000-capacity stadium in Ahmedabad where England played several matches over winter — on November 13.
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