ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020: CA Chairman Feels Unrealistic To Host Coveted Tournament In This Year
Jun 16, 2020 at 11:52 AM
Though the International Cricket Council (ICC) is still hopeful to organise the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 on time, the Cricket Australia (CA) is not confident enough for this tournament. The CA Chairman Earl Eddings feels that hosting the Men’s T20 World Cup in this year is very much unrealistic.
Australia will host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 between 18th October and 15th November 2020. A total of 16 teams, including the hosts, will participate in this tournament. But the novel COVID-19 or coronavirus has opened up the doubtful fate of this tournament.
Though the CA Chairman Earl Eddings has claimed that they are still trying to organise this tournament on time, he feels that it is very much unrealistic to host it in this year.
Eddings told the reporters, “While it hasn’t been formally called off this year, or postponed, trying to get 16 countries into Australia in the current world, where most countries are still going through COVID spiking, I think it’s unrealistic, or it’s going to be very, very difficult.”
Eddings has also confirmed that the CA has brought up some options to the ICC to organise the Men’s T20 World Cup.
He added, “The ICC are having meetings as we speak, it’s a bit of a movable feast at the moment.”
What can happen if the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 gets postponed?
According to some earlier media reports, if the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 gets postponed, it can be shifted to the early 2021 or 2022. While India will host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in October-November 2021, if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) agrees, ICC can shift the T20 World Cup 2021 to Australia. Then, India can host the next T20 World Cup in 2022.
Meanwhile, if the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 gets cancelled, the BCCI can utilise this window for the IPL 2020. The BCCI is eagerly waiting to organise the IPL 2020 as the revenue of around INR 4000 crore is currently at stake due to the postponement of this tournament.
Initially, the IPL 2020 was scheduled to run from 29th March to 24th May 2020. But the coronavirus pandemic forced to postpone that tournament for the indefinite period.