On Thursday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has reached a decision of postponing all the qualifying events for the 2021 T20 World Cup and 50-overs version in 2023. The qualifying events that were scheduled to take place before June 30 and now they have been postponing due to the ever-rising coronavirus pandemic.
The flu-like virus has infected more than 480,00 people around the world and killed over 22,000, since appearing in China at the end of last year. The pandemic has also brought global sport to a standstill and the ICC said in a statement the World Cup qualifiers would also be impacted.
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In the press release, ICC head of events, Chirs Tetley said, “In light of the significant global health concerns at the current time and the restrictions on movement imposed by governments across the world, the ICC has taken the decision to postpone all events up until the end of June subject to further review.”
He further added, “Work will continue on contingency plans and options for both men’s qualification pathways. We will provide updates in due course on these plans and decisions on the staging of the remaining events this year.”
India host next year’s T20 World Cup and the 50-overs event in 2023. As many as eight events will now be postponed due to the ICC decision. This year’s women’s T20 World Cup was held in February-March in Australia, where the men’s T20 World Cup is also scheduled for later this year in October. The World Cup trophy tour for the men’s event, which was scheduled to start next month, was also postponed.
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus positive patients in India went past 600 with 10 people losing their lives on Thursday, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
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The entire world is slowly moving towards a lockdown due to the scare of the ever-escalating situation concerning the World Health Organisation-recognized pandemic that is the Coronavirus. Everything- schools, colleges, airports, railway stations, gyms, sporting events, movies, offices- have been put under lockdown as the world continues to self-isolate in order to control the pandemic.
