T20 World Cup 2021 likely to be held in UAE instead of India: Ehsan Mani

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani has stated that the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 will be held in the UAE instead of India. There were a lot of speculations after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials had conducted a Special General Meeting (SGM) on May 29. The BCCI officials were optimistic about pulling the showpiece event which is scheduled to take place in October.

India is currently battling a strong second wave of COVID-19, due to which even the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) got suspended. Still, BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla was optimistic about hosting the ICC event in India as he thought the situation might change till then.

“The ICC T20 World Cup, which was supposed to be held in India, is now going to the UAE. India is forced to hold the remaining IPL 2021 matches in UAE also. As such Pakistan had no other choice but to shift the venue of the remaining PSL matches in Abu Dhabi. We had two options, either to cancel the remaining matches or look for a possible venue during the period when we have no other international commitments. This is the best time for us and we have decided to hold it in Abu Dhabi,” Ehsan Mani said as quoted by thenews.com.pk.

ICC has granted BCCI time till June 28 to decide the fate of the T20 World Cup

The PCB chairman also expressed that the current COVID-19 situation has put all cricketing plans into disarray and there is a lot of uncertainty going around.

“It is not easy to organize cricket matches these days. All the cricket boards are making adjustments and PCB has not done anything new. We cannot take any risk. It is the safety and security of the players and officials that should be our top priority.”

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has granted BCCI time till June 28 to decide if it’s still possible to host the global event in India amidst the COVID-19 situation. The BCCI officials and ICC met virtually at the start of the month. President Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah were the representatives from India.

“Yes, the ICC board has agreed to BCCI’s request and they will have time till June 28 to decide on hosting the T20 World Cup in India. They will come back to the board next month with a concrete plan,” a source close to the ICC said as quoted by Hindustan Times.