The ICC T20 World Cup 2021 is slated to be held in India later this year.
While the BCCI is yet to take a call on shifting the showpiece tournament, former Australia batsman Michael Hussey has serious doubts whether India would be able to host the global event.
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According to Hussey, UAE should be looked at as an alternative for the T20 World Cup.
"I think it's going to be very difficult in my view to play that tournament in India," Hussey told Fox Cricket.
Hussey is currently serving quarantine in Sydney after returning from India post the IPL 2021 suspension due to multiple COVID-19 cases in the bubble.
In fact, Michael Hussey himself spent two weeks in isolation in India, after being one of three members from the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) contingent to return Coronavirus positive earlier this month.
"We're talking about eight teams in the IPL. I think there are probably similar number, maybe more teams coming in from overseas [for the T20 World Cup], there'd be more venues. As I said earlier, if they're playing in different cities, that is when the risk goes up.
"I think they'll have to look some pretty big contingency plans, perhaps looking at the UAE or somewhere like that that could host the World T20. I think there will be a lot of cricket boards around the world that'd be pretty nervous about going back to India for a cricket tournament," Hussey further remarked.
Before the latest COVID-19 surge, BCCI has zeroed in on nine venues for the T20 World Cup – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Dharamsala. However, the unprecedented healthy crisis has put the plans in jeopardy.
The Indian board has no option but to wait for the health condition to improve and travel bans imposed by several countries to be lifted before they can think of holding a marquee event.