T20 World Cup 2020: ICC to take decision on May 28

The highest governing body of cricket, International Cricket Council (ICC) will be conducting a video conference meeting on May 28 to discuss the future of the T20 World Cup which was scheduled to take place in October-November later this year in Australia. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the possibility of tournament being held is meager and a near cancellation or playing behind closed doors seems to be the only solution.

Change in plan

In the earlier meeting held by the International cricket council in April, it was decided that the tournament would be held as decided in the  October 18 – November 15 schedule, despite a worldwide shutdown of sports to contain COVID-19. 

However many prominent players and legends of the game have openly raised their displeasure to play such a massive tournament directly after coming out of quarantine. They cited that most of the players will be out of form and will be without match practice. According to them this would lead to less competitive and entertaining matches.

Now, the multi-national body is conducting a meeting on May 28 to come to a conclusion on the much awaited tournament.

Special committee to take the call

The International Cricket Council (ICC) board will hold a video conference on May 28 in which the fate of the T20 World Cup scheduled for October-November in Australia could be decided. The issue is expected to be discussed by the Anil Kumble-led ICC cricket committee that will meet before the board does.

The cricket committee’s decision will be crucial and would provide a better solution to the board.

The committee will have to consider many other non cricketing dependables also to come up with a fair solution. The medical experts have already advocated no use of saliva on the ball to extract movement fearing the spread of corona virus.

All major cricket events cancelled

Like all other sports, cricket has also suffered a great deal due to this deadly virus. Major cricketing events have either been postponed or suspended in the wake of the pandemic. Australia was supposed to host the ICC T20 World Cup later this year, but due to the outbreak, there are speculations that the tournament might be held behind closed doors.

Recently, the star studded IPL 2020 was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus outbreak. To the disappointment of the cricket fans, the India-South Africa ODI series was also called off. Apart from it, the Road Safety World Series which included legends of the game like Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara has also been suspended. Pakistan Super League was also cancelled after the overseas English players were called back by their board.