Xtra Time Web Desk: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah will be attending the ICC Board meeting in Dubai on Tuesday (June 1) and Wednesday (June 2). Both Ganguly and Shah will travel to Dubai on Monday to discuss the fate of the T20 World Cup in India in October. The Indian cricket board had sought extension from the world cricket body so as to gauge the situation and will then take a final decision about hosting the event in India or shifting it to UAE.
There are few key points that will come up for discussion at the ICC Board meeting. First and foremost is to host Pakistan in the country. The last bilateral series between India and Pakistan was played in 2012-13. Since then due to political strain on the border there have only been ICC clashes. It was talked about that the T20 World Cup matches will be held in Mumbai and Pune. But hosting Pakistan in Mumbai will be high risk because of the threat from Shiv Sena. In 1991, the Hindu fundamentalist group vandalised the pitch at Bombay’s Wankhede stadium two days before Pakistan were to play a one-day series in India. Pakistan cancelled that tour, and two more in 1993 and 1994, because of security fears. So, hosting Pakistan in Mumbai will always be a sensitive issue before scheduling matches for the T20 World Cup.
BCCI had earlier shortlisted nine venues for the event which will bring together 16 teams and is currently scheduled to be played between October 18 and November 14. But with the COVID-19 situation in the country, the board will not risk staging the event in more then 2-3 cities. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Lucknow, Dharamsala, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad were shortlisted for staging the matches.
In case the competition eventually moves out to UAE, the big question for ICC is sorting out the retention of BCCI’s hosting rights. Hosting the showcase event will bring in a big amount of money for the host nation.
According to a report by ESPNCricinfo, the host earns anywhere near $250,000-300,000 per match in an ICC event.
The ICC Board and BCCI will also have a discussion on the issue of tax exemptions. The global cricket body had sought tax exemption from the Indian government for staging the T20 World Cup in India. ICC in 2016, withheld nearly $30 million from BCCI’s share for the 2016 World Cup.