Almost 50 days after the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) board of directors first met to take a call on this year’s T20 World Cup, an official decision has finally been made. The game’s governing body sent out a statement that read: “The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia 2020 has been postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.”
In doing so, the ICC also announced the following: A) Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held October-November, with the final on November 14; B) Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held October-November with the final on November 13; C) Men’s (50-over) World Cup will be held in India in October-November 2023 with the final on November 26.
The ICC says it has rescheduled the 2023 50-over World Cup in India by six months “to allow a longer qualification period”. The 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup will be held in India as scheduled and Australia will host the tournament in 2022, sources said.
The ICC statement also said that the IBC Board (ICC’s commercial arm) will continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s World Cup 2021 in New Zealand in February next year and planning for the event will continue.
“The decision to postpone the 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,” ICC CEO Manu Sawhney said.
