ICC postpones T20 World Cup 2020 due to COVID-19

The air of uncertainty over the Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia later this year has been cleared. The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday July 20 confirmed that biennial tournament has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

With the confirmation, the marquee event becomes another major sporting event, after the Tokyo Olympics, to be postponed due the pandemic. The T20 World Cup 2020 will now be held in October-November 2021, with the final on November 14.

However, the confirmation did not disclose the order in which the T20 World Cups would be held by Australia and India. Originally, T20 World Cup 2020 event was slated to be held in Australia and the next year event was to be held in India.

Commenting on the decision ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said, “we have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport.

Clarity and opportunity to recover

At a meeting of ICC Business Corporation (IBC), the commercial subsidiary of the ICC, the board agreed on the windows for next three ICC Men’s event -T20 World Cup 2021, T20 World Cup 2022 and Cricket World Cup 2023- to bring clarity and give the game the opportunity to recover from disruptions caused by COVID-19.

“Our Members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Moving the Men’s Cricket World Cup to a later window is a critical element of this and gives us a better chance of maintaining the integrity of the qualification process,”ICC Chief Executive said.

“This additional time will be used to reschedule games that might be lost because of the pandemic ensuring qualification can be decided on the field of play.”

“Throughout this process we have worked closely with our key stakeholders including governments, Members, broadcasters, partners and medical experts to enable us to reach a collective decision for the good of the game and our fans.

I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment to a safe return to cricket.”

The board has also shifted the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023 from the February-March window to October-November that year.

“The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world,” Manu Sawhney said