The ICC has given BCCI until June 28 to decide about hosting T20 World Cup. The ICC board is also believed to have agreed that the governing body should simultaneously step up its preparations vis-à-vis UAE as the back-up venue. These were among the key takeaways from the ICC Board's meeting on Tuesday. It was attended by all the 16 directors, including BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.
On May 29, Ganguly told the BCCI members at a special general body meeting that the board would seek additional time to decide whether India was fit to host the World Cup which will include 16 teams. The tournament is scheduled between mid-October and November 14 in India, subject to the BCCI fulfilling various obligations, including getting a tax exemption from the Indian government.
The biggest challenge for the BCCI is determining whether it can host the marquee event when India is still dealing with a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, with health experts predicting a third wave around winter when the World Cup would be played. Currently India is only behind the USA on the list of countries with the highest number of infections. India also is on the red list of several countries which have barred all travel to and from the country. Recently the BCCI was forced to postpone the eight-team IPL after the growing number of Covid-19 positive cases in the second leg of the tournament which was held in Delhi and Ahmedabad.
For the World Cup, the BCCI had proposed nine venues to the ICC. However, an ICC team of experts, meant to land in India in late April for inspection of the venues, had to cancel their plans as India was battling the pandemic.
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo
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