T20 World Cup: UAE will host the T20 WC from 17th October

The 2021 men’s T20 World Cup will begin on October 17 in the United Arab Emirates, two days after the IPL final. According to reports, the T20 World Cup final will be held on November 14. The first IPL game would be played on September 19, followed by the final on October 15. After multiple COVID-19 instances were recorded in the bio-bubble, the league was banned in the first week of May.

The upcoming T20 World Cup will include 16 teams. The main event was originally scheduled to take place in India, but there have been discussions of moving it to the United Arab Emirates. The BCCI is yet to send a formal letter to the ICC, according to a report.

“Round 1, which will include 12 matches, will comprise eight teams from which four (top two from each group) would qualify for the Super 12s. Four team from this lot of eight – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, Oman, Papua New Guinea – will then progress to the Super 12s, joining the top eight ranked T20I teams”, the report further read.

The Super 12s phase, which will consist of 30 games, will begin on October 24 at three sites in the United Arab Emirates: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah. There will be three playoff games following the Super 12s phase: two semi-finals and the final.

After the board meeting, the ICC confirmed that the BCCI would keep the T20 World Cup hosting rights even if the tournament was moved out of India. The ICC Board had also asked management to concentrate its planning efforts for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 on the UAE, with the possibility of adding another Middle Eastern venue.

The ICC said in an official release, “a final decision on the host country will be taken later this month. The Board also confirmed that the BCCI will remain the hosts of the event regardless of where the event is played”.