Melbourne: Cricket Australia has written to the International Cricket Council (ICC) that it does not want to host the men's T20 World Cup it is currently scheduled to host in October-November.
A letter from Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings was sent to ICC's Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee on Thursday calling for the tournament to be shifted because of issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eddings, instead, wants to host the event in late 2021 when India is scheduled to host a second T20 World Cup and does not want the hosting rights for this year's tournament to be shifted all the way back to 2022.
2020 World T20 is Australia has been postponed. The ICC Board met via teleconference on Thursday with all agenda items deferred until June 10 following a discussion, led by Chairman Shashank Manohar, around the issue of confidentiality. At the board meeting, ICC was expected to finally decide on the fate of the 2020 World T20 slated to be held from October 18 to November 15.
"A number of board members had raised their concerns over this issue recently and felt it required immediate attention to ensure the sanctity and confidentiality of board matters in line with the highest standards of governance," ICC said in a media release.
"There was unanimous agreement to immediately initiate an independent investigation led by the ICC's Ethics Officer and supported by global experts. The board will be updated on this by the ICC CEO at its next meeting on 10 June 2020.
"The Board also requested the ICC management continue with their discussions with stakeholders in exploring various contingency options in light of the rapidly changing public health situation caused by the COVID-19 virus," it added. Currently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is not in the mood to exchange the hosting rights with Cricket Australia.
"As for one of the ideas that BCCI may hand the hosting rights of the 2021 edition to CA and us hosting the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup, I honestly don't see that happening. If the T20 World Cup doesn't happen in Australia in 2020 then it will in 2022 is what we feel," A BCCI official had explained.
If this year's T20 World Cup is postponed, which looks like the obvious solution in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it will open a window for the BCCI to host the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League which currently stands postponed. In fact, it is believed that the roadmap for the same is already in planning.
