India to remain the hosts of T20 World Cup 2021, Australia to host the 2022 edition: ICC

International Cricket Council (ICC) met via teleconference on Friday to decide the venues for the T20 World Cups that are slated to be held in 2021 and 2022. Amid the pandemic, this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia was pushed further in July.

While the ICC confirmed the postponement of T20 World Cup 2020 in July, it did not announce who will be hosting the 2021 and the 2022 editions. Australia and India were grappling over the hosting rights of the mega-events.

After the postponement of T20 World Cup 2020, Australia wanted to host the postponed mega-event in late 2021 when India is scheduled to host the T20 World Cup. Cricket Australia did not want the hosting rights for this year’s tournament to be shifted all the way back to 2022.

However, ICC, in their meeting, decided that India will host the T20 World Cup in 2021 while Australia, who were supposed to host the tournament in 2022, will now host the postponed edition in 2022.

We now have absolute clarity on the future of events: ICC

India will host the T20 World Cup in October-November with the final to be held on November 14. Australia will host the tournament in October-November as well with the final on November 13. India also has the responsibility to host the 50-overs World Cup in 2023 between October and November with the final on November 26.

The ICC also postponed the Women’s World Cup until 2022 in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Women’s World Cup was scheduled to be held from February 6 to March 7 in New Zealand.

Cricket Australia was interested in hosting the T20 World Cup in 2021 as they had already made preparations for the now-postponed edition of the tournament. The BCCI, on the other hand, wasn’t interested in hosting the World Cups in successive years.

“We now have absolute clarity on the future of ICC events enabling all of our Members to focus on the rescheduling of lost international and domestic cricket. We will now proceed as planned with the Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in India and host the 2022 edition in Australia,” said ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney.

After ICC’s decision to postpone the T20 World Cup, BCCI decided to use the vacant window to announce the dates for the Indian Premier League. The IPL will be held in the UAE from September 19 to November 10, followed by the Indian team locking horns with Australia Down Under.