We are planning for the men's T20 World Cup to go as planned: ICC

The ever-increasing threat of the pandemic that is the Coronavirus COVID-19 has proceeded to put the entire world into a lockdown. Borders, schools, colleges, movie theatres, gyms, offices- everything has been shut down, bringing life to a standstill.

For sports fans, it is turning into an ordeal, whose end just doesn’t look insight. Nearly all of the marquee sporting events have been either cancelled or called-off. Cricket has also been severely affected after almost every International, domestic and franchise-based competition including the cash-rich Indian Premier League, has been put on the back burner.

While there is a lot of uncertainty going around, the International Cricket Council [ICC] are still optimistic that this year’s showpiece event- Men’s T20 World Cup- will go ahead as planned.

“In response to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 Local Organising Committee is monitoring the situation closely with relevant authorities, and will continue to do so,” ICC said in a statement.

“The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is scheduled to take place from 18 October – 15 November 2020 in seven venues across Australia. We are planning for the event to go ahead as scheduled,” the statement added.

Cricket Australia to prepare for the tournament as originally planned

The ICC’s response is in line with what Cricket Australia Chief Executive Kevin Roberts said earlier in the day while announcing the decision to cancel the final round of the Sheffield Shield, besides also directing the est of the cricket associations in the country to follow suit.

Roberts revealed that Cricket Australia will continue to prepare for the showpiece as originally planned, and while there is a lot of uncertainty around, CA is hopeful that all forms of sports will commence shortly.

“We’re really hoping that all forms of sport can be played again in a few weeks or a few months’ time,” Roberts said as quoted as cricket.com.au.

Roberts added: “None of us are experts in this situation obviously, so our hope is that we’re back in very much normal circumstances come October and November when the men’s T20 World Cup is to be played.

The 2020 edition of the Men’s T20 World Cup is set to kick-off from October 18, with a six-day pre-qualifying stage, from which four teams will qualify for the Super-12, starting October 24.