The international cricket council (ICC) has decided to postpone the dates of all the ICC events that were scheduled before June. All the qualifying events for the 2021 T20 World Cup and 50-over version in 2023 were scheduled to be held before June now have been delayed due to coronavirus outbreak across the globe.
As of now, the deadly virus has infected 4,86,898 people and 22,025 deaths have been registered. Although, the cases are increasing day by day.
To curb the spread of the deadly virus, the respective governments across the globe have decided to close their borders apart from announcing an entire lockdown. So, in that situation, ICC will not be able to organize the World Cup qualifier round.
“In light of the significant global health concerns at the current time and the restrictions on movement imposed by governments across the world, the ICC has taken the decision to postpone all events up until the end of June subject to further review,” Chris Tetley, ICC head of events, said.
“Work will continue on contingency plans and options for both men’s qualification pathways. We will provide updates in due course on these plans and decisions on the staging of the remaining events this year.”
This year ICC T20 World Cup 2020 is scheduled in October. The event will be hosted by Australia While India will host next year’s T20 World Cup and the 50-over event in 2023.
The cricket council will hold the meeting to decide with all the boards via video conferencing to decide the future plans if the pandemic expands further.
Reports also came that the grand finale date of the inauguration edition of the ICC World Test Championship 2019-21 will also be postponed. As of now, the finale is scheduled to be held in June 2021 at iconic Lord’s ground.