T20 World Cup 2021: Tournament to be shifted from India to UAE, confirms BCCI President Sourav Ganguly

2021 T20 World Cup is to be held in October-November.

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The T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in India this year is being shifted to the UAE owing to the health safety concerns posed by COVID-19, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly confirmed on Monday.

The mega-event is to be held in October-November.

"We have officially intimated the ICC that the T20 World Cup can be shifted to the United Arab Emirates. The details are being chalked out," Ganguly told PTI.

The ICC, at the start of the month, had given BCCI a four-week window to decide and inform whether India could host the marquee event considering the COVID-19 situation in the country.

This was after the pandemic forced the postponement of IPL, the second part of which is also being held in the UAE in September-October.

Meanwhile, BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla on Monday said the decision to move the T20 World Cup to the UAE was taken as nobody can predict what will happen regarding the COVID-19 situation.

"As far as T20 World Cup is concerned, today was the deadline as we had to inform the ICC about our decision so today there was a conference call between BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, Secretary Jay Shah, Treasurer Arun Dhumal, me and the Joint Secretary. We looked at the COVID-19 situation and nobody is sure what is going to happen after two-three months, looking at everything, it has been decided that Secretary Jay Shah and President Ganguly will inform the ICC to move the tournament to the UAE," Shukla told ANI.

"UAE is an ideal venue after India. We all wanted to host it in India, but you know it is an international tournament and that too of big size, so it was very hard to predict what is going to happen with the COVID situation, after due consideration, now the BCCI has decided to move the T20 World Cup to the UAE," he added.

When asked when the tournament will begin, Shukla said: "The dates are going to be the same, immediately after the IPL, the tournament will start. The format for the World Cup has already been decided by the ICC, qualifiers may take place in Oman and Muscat. The rest of the matches will be in the three grounds -- Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah."

Earlier, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah confirmed on Monday that the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup will be shifted to the UAE. "We will inform ICC today that we are shifting the T20 World Cup to UAE. The dates of the tournament, the ICC needs to decide," the BCCI secretary told ANI.

Earlier, the ICC had clarified that BCCI would keep the hosting rights of the tournament even if it is moved out of India. Meanwhile, the Indian Premier League (IPL)'s 14th edition will also be completed in the UAE. The IPL is set to get underway on September 19 and the final is to be played on October 15.