With the COVID-19 situation in India drawing global concern, doubts have been cast on whether the country could host the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held from October 18 to November 15.
On Thursday, a BCCI official conceded the event could be moved out of India. Dhiraj Malhotra, who is general manager for game development of the BCCI, told the BBC that he had just been named one of the directors of the upcoming tournament, "so I'm doing everything we can to make sure it happens (in India)". Malhotra said the BCCI was in consultation with the ICC on the situation.
"We will be doing normal scenario, and worst case scenario, so with all that we're talking to the ICC at the moment," Malhotra told BBC. When asked which country would host the event if it did not go ahead in India, Malhotra said, "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."
Earlier this week, the Daily Mail in the UK reported the ICC was monitoring the situation in India. The Daily Mail claimed the UAE and Sri Lanka were alternative hosts for the T20 World Cup, if the event did not go ahead in India.
Geoff Allardice, interim CEO of the ICC, had told mediapersons earlier this month, "Yes, we have (back-up plans). But at this stage we haven't activated those plans, because we are preparing to go ahead with the event in India as scheduled. We're working with the BCCI and different elements of that event at the moment, but we do have back-up plans that can be activated when the time's right."
While India is hosting the IPL currently in 'bio-secure bubbles', the event features only eight teams. The T20 World Cup is to feature 16 teams.
The UAE has hosted the IPL twice: In 2009 (due to it coinciding with general elections) and 2020 (due to COVID-19 situation).
Royal Challengers Bangalore leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who left the IPL midway this week, had told the Sydney Morning Herald in his native Australia that the IPL held in the UAE last year was safer than the one in India.
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"We’ve been in a few [bubbles] now, and I feel like this [India] is probably the most vulnerable... I just feel like because it’s India, we’re always being told about the hygiene over here and being extra careful ... I just felt like it was the most vulnerable. The IPL that was held in Dubai six months ago didn’t feel that way at all. I felt like that was extremely safe. Personally, I feel like that would have been a better option originally for this IPL but obviously, there’s a lot of political stuff that goes into it," Zampa told the Sydney Morning Herald.
