There is a lot of speculation surrounding around the rescheduling of this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia to 2022, which might open up a window for the cash-rich Indian Premier League in October.
Amid the murmur, a PTI report has claimed that the decision regarding the same is expected to be formalised on Thursday (May 28) when the ICC’s all-powerful board will hold a tele-conference.
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All international cricket has been suspended since March due to COVID-19 pandemic across the globe. The IPL 2020 was scheduled to start from March 29, but the T20 tournament has been postponed until further notice.
The decision, if it is formalised, will give members a chance to outline their bilateral fixtures in the coming months.
“There is a good chance that postponement of World T20 will be decided during Thursday’s board meeting. Whether there will be a formal announcement or not is the question,” an ICC board member told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
“There is very little chance of World T20 going ahead in this situation. I don’t think either Cricket Australia or the top boards will mind,” he added.
Earlier this month, PTI had reported that ICC’s Events Committee could come up with multiple options and one of the options that members are likely to seriously consider is shifting the marquee event to October-November, 2022 while India hosts its edition in 2021.
The cancellation of T20 World Cup will also ensure that India will be touring Australia at the end of the year as members are likely to give more preference to bilateral engagements to recover from the financial losses.
The board member further stated that it’s not only about the countries but also the broadcasters Star Sports, which holds rights for ICC events, BCCI’s ‘India Cricket’ and the IPL.
“There are a few questions that need to be asked. The commercial viability of having a T20 World Cup in February-March 2021. Before that, an IPL in October-November window and another IPL in the March-May window,” a BCCI insider privy to the broadcast deals said.
“So we are looking at three big-ticket tournaments in six months. In this current economic scenario, that will be a very bad call,” he added.
He also listed the bilateral engagements that the BCCI will agree to.
“India is most certainly going to Australia and England is coming for a five-match series in India. As far as South Africa T20 series is concerned, let Cricket South Africa decide where they stand as far as ICC policy matters are concerned,” the source said.
“With Chris Nenzani, BCCI will only believe when he puts pen to paper,” he added.
The staging of IPL 2020 will mainly depend on India’s COVID-19 situation during that time but with the central government trying to bring in normalcy, the lucrative league could get a condensed window of five weeks to go ahead.
(With PTI inputs)
