ICC likely to move T20 World Cup from India to UAE

Faizan Lakhani

June 01, 2021

This year's men's T20 World Cup could be moved from India to the United Arab Emirates, says ICC.
The move appears to have been prompted by the rising number of COVID-19 cases in India.
The ICC added that a final decision on the host country for the October-November event would be taken later this month.

Karachi: The International Cricket Council has, it seems, made its mind to move the ICC T20 World Cup from India to the UAE due to the COVID-19 situation in India.

The indication came following the ICC Board's meeting on Tuesday which requested the management to focus its planning for the tournament being staged in the UAE. However, a final decision will be taken later this month.

“The ICC Board has requested management focus its planning efforts for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 on the event being staged in the UAE with the possibility of including another venue in the Middle East,” the ICC said in a statement.

“A final decision on the host country will be taken later this month. The Board also confirmed that the BCCI will remain the hosts of the event regardless of where the event is played,” it added.

The ICC, while confirming the events calendar from 2024 to 2031, confirmed that both the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be expanded and the Men’s Champions Trophy will be re-introduced.

According to the statement, the Men’s Cricket World Cup (50 overs) will now become a 14-team event and will see 54 matches being played in 2027, and 2031, whilst the Men’s T20 World Cup will be expanded to a 20 team and 55 matched will be played in 2024, 2026, 2028, and 2030, respectively.

An eight-team Champions Trophy will be hosted in 2025 and 2029. The tournament was suspended in 2017 after Pakistan had defeated India to lift the trophy.

The ICC has also confirmed that the T20 World Cup will have a super-eight stage while the Men’s Cricket World Cup will have a super-six stage before teams proceed to the knockout stages of the semi-final and final.

“The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup format will have two groups of seven, with the top three in each group progressing to a super-six stage, followed by semi-finals and final. This is the same format that was used in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2003,” the ICC said.

“The format of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will consist of four groups of five, with the top two from each group going through to a super-eights stage, followed by the knockout stages of semi-finals and a final” it added.

The statement further confirmed that the Champions Trophy will follow previous editions with two groups of four, semi-finals and final.

Following the approval of the ICC events calendar, fans will see at least one ICC event every year from 2024 to 2031.

ICC Men's Global Events 2024-31 cycle

2024: T20 World Cup

2025: Champions Trophy

2025: WTC Final

2026: T20 World Cup

2027: World Cup

2027: WTC Final

2028: T20 World Cup

2029: Champions Trophy

2029: WTC Final