It's Official: ICC T20 World Cup 2020 Postponed, Decks Cleared For IPL

After months of uncertainty, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday confirmed that the 2020 Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia has been postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (More Cricket News)

The decision to postpone the mega-event was taken during the ICC board's virtual meeting today. The tournament will now be held next year with the final scheduled for November 14, 2021.

The official confirmation from the game's governing body cleared the decks for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to hold the Indian Premier League (IPL) in October-November window, 2020.

READ: T20 WC To Be Cancelled, IPL All Set To Be Held In UAE

"The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia 2020 has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," the ICC said in a statement.

The T20 World Cup was scheduled from October 18-November 15 but Cricket Australia had intimated the ICC that it would be near impossible to stage a closed-door event of this magnitude with quarantine arrangement of 16 international teams.

In addition to this, the 2023 50-over World Cup in India was pushed from March-April to the November window to give more time for the qualification process.

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"At today’s meeting of the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC), windows for the next three ICC men's events were also agreed to bring clarity to the calendar and give the sport the best possible opportunity over the next three years to recover from the disruption caused by COVID-19." the released added.

Meanwhile, with India's COVID-19 caseload exceeding a million mark, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is favourite to host this edition of IPL. The UAE partially staged the tournament in 2014 due to the general elections in India.

Besides UAE, Sri Lanka has also offered to host the IPL.

The BCCI had already zeroed in on September-early November window for its T20 league.