The International Cricket Council (ICC) continued to adopt a ‘wait and watch’ approach as its Board deferred the decision on the staging of this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia by at least a month.
“We will only get one chance to make this decision and it needs to be the right one, and as such we will continue to consult with our Members, broadcasters, partners, governments and players and to ensure that we make a well informed decision,” stated ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney in a statement after Wednesday’s meeting.
It is understood that besides considering the rapidly evolving public health situation caused by COVID-19, the Board chose not to make a decision in haste keeping in mind the forthcoming ICC chairman election.
While the deferment of the T20 World Cup decision means that the BCCI will have to wait longer to see if it can squeeze in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly still had a reason to smile after the meeting.
Deadline extended
The ICC agreed to the BCCI’s demand of extending the deadline for securing the requisite tax exemptions from the government to stage the T20 World Cup in 2021.
With the BCCI having missed an earlier deadline, the ICC had threatened to take the event away from India.
The BCCI now has six more months to convince the Central government.
While the ICC statement didn’t specify anything about the process for electing the chairman, it did announce the inclusion of all the ICC directors in the breach of confidentiality probe which was launched last month.
