The outbreak of the Corona Virus has brought the world to a standstill. It has also halted all the sporting events as a safety measure for the people and avoid the mass gathering of crowds. The cricketing calendar has suffered because of the same. ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin on October 18 and continue till November 15. However, The future of ICC’s tournament slated to take place in Australia is in doubt due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Former Australia captain Mark Taylor feels the ICC mega event won’t be able to go ahead as scheduled due to the pandemic.
Taylor also wants the ICC to take a decision during its Board meeting this week. The ICC Board meets on May 28 to discuss the future of the men’s T20 World Cup in Australia amongst many issue s regarding the resumption of cricket.
Former Cricket Australia (CA) director Mark Taylor spoke with ‘Nine Network’ where he said, “My feeling is the World T20 won’t go ahead in Australia in October as planned. Is it going to be viable to have a world tournament in October or November? The answer to that is probably no.”
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“It would probably be good (if a decision is made this week). Because then everyone can start planning and we can stop sitting here and saying ‘well ifs, buts or maybes’,” he added.
CA chief executive Kevin Roberts has said that a decision on the WC’s future may potentially not come until August. However, many players and various cricket bodies predict the tournament will be postponed.
Reports suggested that if the World Cup is rescheduled, the now-postponed IPL could be held in the same window. Taylor also said that CA wants to keep BCCI happy so the Australia players are likely to be cleared if IPL happens in October.
CA who is suffering from a financial turmoil is scheduled to host the Virat Kohli-led Indian team for a 4 match Test tour starting November. Cricket Australia in banking on the Border-Gavaskar trophy to help generate much-needed broadcasting revenue for Australia’s cricket board.
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Taylor said, “The Cricket Australia board will want to keep India happy. So they may want to let the players go to India if the IPL goes ahead. Because they want India to come here this summer and play. It will be our biggest summer in terms of dollars. That’s the sort of discussion going on. No doubt.”
Earlier, many Aussie cricketers like Warner and Cummins have expressed their desire to play in IPL once cricket returns.
