Cricket Australia has expressed interest in hosting the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup if the same tournament doesn’t go ahead this year due to COVID-19 outbreak.

See Also: "Very high risk" of T20 World Cup being postponed, concedes Cricket Australia chief

India is due to host the T20 World Cup 2021 while the seventh edition of the marquee event is slated to be held down under from October 18 to November 15 as of today.

According to a report in The Australian, a letter from CA chairman Earl Eddings was sent to ICC’s Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee on Thursday (May 28), calling for the competition to be shifted because of issues relating to the deadly pandemic.

The letter was written in response to the ICC asking Cricket Australia which options were preferable if the board is not able to conduct the tournament this year.

Eddings reportedly told the apex body that it wants to stage the event in late 2021 when India is scheduled to host the T20 World Cup and does not want the hosting rights for this year’s tournament to be shifted all the way back to 2022.

Meanwhile, the ICC has deferred a decision on the 2020 edition of the T20 World Cup till June 10, saying it wants to look at contingency plans for some more time.

Earlier, the IANS had reported that the BCCI is not willing to exchange the hosting rights with Cricket Australia.

“As for one of the ideas that BCCI may hand the hosting rights of the 2021 edition to CA and us hosting the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup, I honestly don’t see that happening. If the T20 World Cup doesn’t happen in Australia in 2020 then it will in 2022 is what we feel,” a BCCI official had explained.

Last week, the Indian board also said that it would consider staging the IPL 2020 in October-November window if the T20 World Cup gets cancelled.

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League currently remains suspended “until further notice” owing to the Coronavirus epidemic.

(With IANS inputs)