The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) on Monday confirmed that the 2021 T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in India, is being shifted to the UAE owing to the health safety concerns and travel restrictions posed by COVID-19. BCCI secretary Jay Shah has said the Indian cricket board, in principle, has decided on the switch and it will formally communicate to the International Cricket Council (ICC).

"We're moving the tournament to UAE and we will inform the ICC this evening," Cricbuzz quoted Shah as saying.

According to Shah, the BCCI is also open to having the first round of the World Cup matches in Oman, which has not hosted such level of international cricket matches before but has a large South Asian population crazy about cricket.   Oman's national cricket team has qualified for the tournament and could play host to the first-round games in which Sri Lanka, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Oman, Bangladesh, Namibia, Netherlands and Scotland will compete.

Four teams from the first round will qualify for the Super 12 stage for which India, Australia, England, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies and Afghanistan have direct entries.

During its last board meeting at the start of the month, the ICC had asked the BCCI to inform the feasibility of holding the tournament in India considering the COVID-19 situation in the country. With the completion of the deadline Monday, the BCCI has decided that conducting the tournament in India is not ideal now, IBNS reported. 

Irrespective of the venue, the ICC has previously confirmed that the BCCI will remain the hosts of the tournament.

There has been speculation that the tournament would be held from October 17 to November 14, instead of originally planned dates of October 18 to November 15 but Shah suggested that there will be an announcement soon on this.

"The schedule will be done later. We have not decided on the schedule completely. We will inform you soon," the BCCI secretary said.

After its June 1 meeting, the ICC had already started its preparations and logistics for the tournament which will be held in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

With Muscat making good progress infrastructure wise, the BCCI and ICC have also kept the Oman option open for hosting the qualifying round of the World Cup, which will give ideal time to the pitches in UAE to freshen up after 31 remaining games of IPL are held till October 15.(SAM)