Uncertainty over T20 World Cup in India

Uncertainty looms over India hosting cricket's Twenty20 World Cup this year after the Indian Premier League (IPL) was postponed on Tuesday following rising Covid-19 cases in four out of the eight competing teams.

The IPL bio-bubble was supposed to be tight despite the rising number of Covid-19 cases across India. However, the emergence of positive cases in the teams has cast doubts over the Indian cricket board's (BCCI) ability to put up a safe environment.

The T20 World Cup is scheduled for October-November in India.

Although the tournament is five months away and the BCCI feels there is still time, the suspension of the IPL is unlikely to go down well with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the other national cricket boards.

An ICC recce team that was supposed to visit India during the IPL has postponed its trip.

A senior BCCI official last week confirmed that the United Arab Emirates has already been kept as a standby venue for the T20 Wold Cup.

"It would be the UAE. We're hoping that it would be done by the BCCI. So, we'll take the tournament there," Mr Dhiraj Malhotra, general manager (game development), BCCI, told the BBC's Stumped podcast.

The BCCI has hosted the IPL abroad twice - in South Africa in 2009 and in the UAE in 2020. It also hosted part of the 2014 edition in the UAE.

On Monday, two Kolkata Knight Riders players - Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier - and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowling coach Laxmipathy Balaji tested positive.

On Tuesday, a player each from Sunrisers Hyderabad (Wriddhiman Saha) and Delhi Capitals (Amit Mishra), along with two CSK support members, tested positive.

This forced the BCCI to temporarily suspend the IPL.

IPL chairman Brijesh Patel told Reuters on Tuesday that the IPL's foreign players will start leaving for home from Wednesday.

"Franchises will make the arrangement to send them back. We will extend whatever help is required," he said.

His assurance notwithstanding, existing travel restrictions make it a complicated process for many, especially the 40-plus Australian contingent, including 14 players, to get back home.

Australia has banned travellers from India, including its own citizens, from entering the country until May 15.

ESPNcricinfo reported that some of the Australian contingent might head to the Maldives and wait there until they get the go-ahead to return home.

Eleven English players will also have to quarantine for 10 days in a hotel after Britain added India to its travel "red list" last month.

Indo-Asian News Service, Reuters

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