T20 World Cup 2021 Could Be Moved Out Of India, BCCI Official Confirms

The T20 World Cup 2021 could be moved out of India if the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in the country continues to prevail, a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official has confirmed.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), earlier said that they have a "Plan B" if India is not in a position to host the tournament. Dhiraj Malhotra, a senior BCCI official, has confirmed that the T20 World Cup would be moving to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) if India is not in a position to host it later this year, cricket.com.au reported.

"It would be the UAE. We're hoping again that it would be done by the BCCI. So, we'll take the tournament there, but it'll still be done by the BCCI. I've just been named one of the tournament directors, so I'm doing everything we can to make sure it happens (in India). We will be doing the normal scenario, COVID scenario and worst-case scenario, so with all that we're talking to the ICC at the moment," Malhotra, who is the BCCI's General Manager of Game Development, was quoted by cricket.com.au as saying, on the BBC's Stumped podcast.

The T20 World Cup was originally scheduled to be played in India in 2020. Due to the pandemic, the ICC event was postponed for a year. The Indian Premier League (IPL), however, was neither canceled nor postponed. It was only moved from India to the UAE, making the Middle Eastern country only the third nation to host a whole season of the IPL after India and South Africa.

"As of now, we are targeting and looking at ticket sales and people traveling from all over the world. But again, we don't know what the situation will be at that point in time (in October)," added Malhotra.

The UAE proved its power to host a major tournament, which consisted of 60 matches, at just three venues (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah) in a little more than seven weeks, all in a bio-secure bubble.

On Thursday, India witnessed a global record rise in coronavirus cases for the eighth consecutive day -- 3,79,257 and 3,645 deaths.

Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom – who will be sending teams to the T20 World Cup this year – recently suspended flights from India due to the COVID-19 crisis.