The International Cricket Council, on Monday, July 20, finally announced the postponement of this year’s T20 World Cup. The postponement was very much on the cards because of the way things panned out since March after the coronavirus outbreak.
Australia was scheduled to host the marquee event this year in October-November. But Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings, as early as June, described the staging of the tournament this year as “unlikely”, pointing out the practical difficulties in hosting a 16-team tournament in the wake of the pandemic.
The fate of the showpiece event, which was to kick-off in Australia from October 18, has hung in the balance since early March. The ICC, however, decided against taking an early call but eventually postponed it.
The ICC has also announced that the 2023 World Cup has been postponed too by few months. The marquee event is scheduled to be held in India. According to ICC’s Future Tour Programme (FTP) for the 2018-2023 cycle, the 2023 World Cup was originally scheduled to be played from 9 February to 26 March.
However, the tournament will now be held in October-November 2023, with the final on November 26. This will be the first time the competition is held completely in India. India had previously co-hosted three editions in – 1987, 1996, and 2011.
The 2023 World Cup will not be the first time that the World Cup will be held in the October-November period in the subcontinent. In 1987, the tournament was held from 8 October to 8 November 1987 in India and Pakistan. However, the previous two editions of the World Cup in the subcontinent were held during the February-March-April period.
The ICC Board, meanwhile, agreed to windows for two other events too with T20 World Cups now set to be held in October-November 2021 and October-November 2022. The apex body, however, is yet to decide in which order Australia and India will host the T20 World Cups.
Here are the new windows for all the three ICC events:
- ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held in October-November 2021, with the final on November 14, 2021
- ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held in October-November 2022, with the final on November 13, 2022
- ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in India in October-November 2023, with the final on November 26, 2023
