Published 10:21 IST, April 28th 2020
BCCI official considers holding T20 World Cup in October 'impractical': Report
The ICC will have to look at a lot of factors before it decides to go ahead with the T20 World Cup. The current starting date for the tournament is October 18.
The coronavirus pandemic has made the future of sports really unpredictable. As the governments and sports bodies try to ensure safety of all stakeholders, mutliple tournaments are now under heavy speculation. The BCCI has suspended the IPL and all eyes are now on the ICC as a decision over the T20 World Cup is now expected. The original schedule for the T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin on October 18, 2020.
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BCCI official believes that the T20 World Cup should be postponed
According to a report by IANS, the ICC recently hosted a meeting where all the board CEOs met, but there was no clear decision about the ICC T20 World Cup 2020. A BCCI official then spoke to IANS and mentioned how nothing can be said about the T20 World Cup's schedule as it will completely depend on the return of normalcy, along with the travel restrictions or the government directives that may follow. The official also added his own view and said that holding the T20 World Cup as per plan would be "impractical".
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The BCCI official went on to say that an event of the magnitude of the T20 World Cup should not be held at this time as no one knows when normalcy will return. Even if it does, the consequences of travelling will not be known and the nature of the pandemic's transmission will need to be studied first. The BCCI official then questioned whether Cricket Australia (home board) and the ICC (organising board) would be ready to take the responsibility for the wellbeing of all fans and stakeholders.
The BCCI official also further questioned whether the Australian government would allow the event to go on and if it does, whether other countries will comply by letting their players and fans travel. Finally, the BCCI official questioned whether the stadiums would be sold to capacity or will seat lesser people to maintain the norms of social distancing. With these questions, the BCCI official made it pretty evident that the ICC has to take a huge look at how it goes about with the T20 World Cup.
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IPL lockdown: Is IPL 2020 even possible?
If it is up to BCCI boss Sourav Ganguly, the chances of the IPL happening in the near future are really bleak. Last week, Sourav Ganguly came forward and said that there would no cricket in the country for now as he does not believe in playing games when lives are at risk. Some reports are also suggesting that the IPL 2020 may happen in the timeslot of the T20 World Cup, if the ICC tournament gets postponed. The 2020 IPL was originally supposed to start on March 29.
Updated 10:21 IST, April 28th 2020