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XtraTime Web Desk: There is a huge possibility that the ICC Board members in its meeting on Thursday via a tele-conference may decide to postpone the forthcoming T20 World Cup in Australia in October to 2022 owing to COVID-19 pandemic. The International Cricket Council is left with no better option than to postpone the global event to October-November 2022 with the venue remaining the same. If the T20 World Cup is officially postponed than there will be a bright chance for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to stage the India Premier League 2020 in October. There will be no change to the scheduled T20 World Cup in India next year.

It is learnt Star Sports, who holds the rights for ICC events as well as BCCI’s ‘India Cricket’ rights including the IPL, might have given the nod for such an arrangement. There is a few questions that needs to be cleared though in the ICC Board meeting on Thursday.

“There are a few questions that need to be asked. The commercial viability of having a T20 World Cup in February-March 2021. Before that, an IPL in October-November window and another IPL in the March-May window,” a BCCI insider privy to the broadcast deals said.
“So we are looking at three big-ticket tournaments in six months. In this current economic scenario, that will be a very bad call,” he added.
Whatever decision is taken by the ICC board members, it is almost certain that India will be touring Australia later this year. England is also slated to travel to India to play a five match test series next year as part of the ICC Test Championship.

The organisation of the Indian Premier League will largely depend on India’s COVID-19 situation during that time but with the central government trying to bring in normalcy, the cash-rich league could get a five-week condensed window to go ahead.

Some of the issues that BCCI as well as all other stakeholders will be dealing with include, limited or no spectators as per ICC regulations.
Limited number of venues and increase of double-headers could be the way forward. Also the organisation should be in such a manner that all foreign players coming in might need to go for a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

In that case, when do they arrive? Also when India tour Australia, they might also have to quarantine themselves which means the team needs at least three weeks before playing the first Test.
One can expect fans will get a clear picture on Thursday after the ICC board meeting.