Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ehsan Mani has said that due to the outbreak of Corona virus, it is not possible to hold the T20 World Cup in Australia this year and it will probably be postponed for a year.
Ehsani Mani is the second senior member of the ICC board to oppose holding the T20 World Cup this year.
Earlier, the chairman of Cricket Australia had said that due to the spread of the virus in some of the 16 countries participating in the event, it would be unrealistic and extremely difficult to hold the tournament as planned.
It should be noted that the T20 World Cup is scheduled in Australia from October 18 to November 16 this year, but due to the corona virus epidemic, it seems difficult to hold it.
In a virtual briefing on Wednesday, Ehsan Mani said that despite overcoming Code-19 in Australia and New Zealand, the biggest challenge is holding the event in Australia. His government is very careful and if the event is held this year, It will be held with Boeing Security.
On this occasion, referring to the tour of the Pakistani team to England, he said that the hotel where the Pakistani team will stay will not have people in it, it is okay for one or two teams but when 12 to 16 teams play a T20 tournament. If I did, it would be impossible to do so, so I don’t think it would be appropriate to host an ICC event in 2020.
“I think this event should be postponed for a year. The ICC has time because the events are scheduled to take place in 2020, 2021 and 2023, so events can be held during the space in between,” Ehsan Mani said. ۔
“Holding the event is a big risk because, God willing, if a player gets infected during the event, it will spread a lot of chaos, so we can’t take the risk,” he said.
Cricket Australia wants to host the T20 World Cup in 2021 but India will host the event next year.
There is no ICC event schedule in 2022 so Cricket Australia wants India to host the T20 World Cup in 2022 but this is not possible in practice.
This is because India has to host the ODI World Cup in 2023 and if the T20 World Cup is supposed to be held in India in 2022, then India will have to host two major world events in just 6 to 7 months. ۔
The final decision on the scheduled T20 World Cup in Australia is expected in the next 3-4 weeks