The International Cricket Council or the ICC is certain that the T20 World Cup will be held safely now that they have decided to move the tournament from India to the UAE. By doing this, they should still be able to host one of the biggest cricket tournaments worldwide safely despite the pandemic situation.
Geoff Allardice, the ICC chief executive talked about this move and said, “Our priority is to deliver the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 safely, in full, and in its current window. While we are incredibly disappointed not to be hosting the event in India, the decision gives us the certainty we need to stage the event in a country that is a proven international host of multi-team events in a bio-secure environment.
“We will work closely with the BCCI, the Emirates Cricket Board, and the Oman Cricket to ensure fans can enjoy a wonderful celebration of cricket,” he added.
Many cricket fans are still looking forward to seeing the tournament despite the ongoing health crisis. To them, it’s their way of dealing with everything that’s happening. Many are still staying at home and are looking forward to watching and betting on sports events to keep themselves entertained. Indeed, betting sites are still getting a lot of wagers from people all over the world when big cricket matches are on. For odds on the T20 cricket matches, check 10CRIC Cricket – Click Here.
The Host and More About the Tournament
The announcement that the T20 World Cup will be moved to the UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14 came after the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) has expressed that the event can be held outside India instead.
The ICC’s statement on this move also explained that the BCCI will still be the host of the said tournament. On the statement, they said, “The BCCI will remain the hosts of the event, which will now be held in Dubai International Stadium, the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Sharjah Stadium, and the Oman Cricket Academy Ground, from 17 October to 14 November 2021.”
Jay Shah, BCCI’s secretary spoke about their efforts in staging the said tournament. He said, “The BCCI made every effort to stage the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and provide its passionate fans with a reason to cheer after a long period of gloom.
“However, the prevailing pandemic situation in the country meant that the health and safety of everyone concerned was fraught with risk should a tournament of this stature be held across the country.”
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly also said somehow the same thing. The former cricketer said, “We would have been happier hosting it in India, but considering the uncertainty due to the COVID 19 situation and the importance of a world championship, the BCCI will now continue to host this tournament in UAE and Oman.”
Tournament Flow
And so, the first round of the T20 tournament will be participated by eight qualifying teams. Competing in the preliminary stage are teams from Bangladesh, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, Oman, and Papua New Guinea.
The matches will be split between the venues in the UAE and Oman. After these matches, the four qualifying teams will then move on to the Super 12s round, and this is where they will join the eight automatic qualifiers. All these matches will take place before the play-off stage and the Final on November 14.
This will be the first men’s T20 World Cup that will be played since 2016. This was when the West Indies beat England and the final was held in India. The pandemic did disrupt the global cricket calendar last year. Originally, the T20 World Cup was set to be held in Australia last year but with the pandemic, the rescheduled tournament was then given to India for this year.
However, in May, India experienced a surge in COVID 19 cases and even the Indian Premier League (IPL), which was held within a bio-secure bubble was breached. The number of cases in India is still high and the IPL getting breached makes the BCCI and the ICC no longer confident about holding the World Cup there and this is why the move to the UAE and Oman was necessary.
The IPL is already also set to take place in the UAE and it is set to finish just two days before the T20 World Cup will begin on October 17. Regarding season 2022, Australia is already picked to be the host.