India in danger of losing the rights to host T20 World Cup - Reports

India is in danger of losing the rights to host the upcoming T20 World Cup as latest reports suggest that the International Cricket Council is currently in contact with the Emirates Cricket Board to shift the World Cup to UAE.

The IPL governing council, along with the BCCI, recently decided to postpone the league after players like Wriddhiman Saha, Amit Mishra, Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier contracted the COVID-19 virus.

The T20 World Cup is scheduled to take place in October-Novemeber this year. However, we could be in for a shift in venue, according to sources from The Dawn.

"The ICC is in contact with the Emirates Cricket Board regarding hosting of the ICC World T20 in the UAE and we can say that almost 80 to 90 percent matter has been discussed and issues sorted out. Now the ICC and the BCCI are in final stage of discussion about shifting the mega event to the UAE and an announcement to this effect is likely to be made in the next two weeks,” said one of the sources in contact with The Dawn.

There has been constant criticism of the BCCI over the past few weeks for carrying on with the IPL, given the raging pandemic in India. The BCCI finally yielded and decided to call off the tournament for the time being.

UPDATE: The Indian Premier League Governing Council (IPL GC) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in an emergency meeting has unanimously decided to postpone IPL 2021 season with immediate effect.Details - https://t.co/OgYXPj9FQy pic.twitter.com/lYmjBId8gL

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 4, 2021

The T20 World Cup was supposed to take place in 2020, but it was postponed due to the pandemic. The UAE has emerged as a probable host country as by hosting IPL 2020, they showed that they could safely conduct a large-scale tournament successfully.

India has won one T20 World Cup

India defeated Pakistan in the 2007 T20 World Cup final.

India will undoubtedly be seen as one of the favorites for the title, given the talent and depth they have in their squad, irrespective of the change in venue. The Men in Blue recently showed their mettle in the shortest format by defeating England in the 5-match T20I series 3-2.

However, India have flattered to deceive in the T20 World Cup over the years, as their only triumph came in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2007.

West Indies are currently the defending champions. They won the tournament in 2016 where they got the better of England in the final. India were knocked out by the winners in the semi-finals in the last edition of the T20 World Cup.

#OnThisDay in 2016, West Indies became double @T20WorldCup champions! 🏆 They first beat 🇦🇺 by eight wickets in the women's final, before the men trumped 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 by four wickets in a finale which has been quoted many times since 👇 pic.twitter.com/qDW4WkpwtC

— ICC (@ICC) April 2, 2020