Men’s T20 World Cup to be hosted by India in 2021, Australia 2022; Women’s World Cup postponed until 2022

India will host the Men’s T20 World Cup for 2021, with Australia hosting the tournament in 2022, following an ICC meeting today. The Women’s World Cup will also be pushed back a year to 2022.

The schedule keeps India’s planned 2021 T20 World Cup, with the ICC opting to slide Australia’s tournament behind for 2022, meaning their competition will be held two years after the original schedule.

The announcement was made at the conclusion of meetings today in Dubai, where officials met to find a resolution after hours of conversation.

The decision ends weeks of speculation surrounding the schedule, after the announcement to defer this year’s tournament on July 20 only provoked more questions.

“We now have absolute clarity on the future of ICC events, enabling all of our members to focus on the rescheduling of lost international and domestic cricket,” ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney said in a statement.

“We will now proceed as planned with the men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in India and host the 2022 edition in Australia.”

Meanwhile acting chairman of the ICC, Imran Khwaja, said health and safety had been the top priority, despite India currently dealing with 600,000 active cases of the virus.

“The decisions the board have taken today are in the best interests of the sport, our partners and importantly our fans,” he added.

As part of the discussions, the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand has also moved, and will now be played in early 2022, roughly a year later than scheduled.

New Zealand’s remote location and the leadership of Jacinda Ardern’s government has meant the threat of Covid-19 has come and gone within the country, though issues stem through the tournament’s lead-up, with the competition’s Qualifier, originally pencilled in for Sri Lanka in July, yet to be run. Three spots at the tournament are still yet to be determined, with a qualifier now scheduled for the middle of next year.

For India’s 2021 T20 World Cup rights though, not everything is plain sailing just yet. On top of continued Covid struggles, the BCCI failed to secure a tax exemption for the 2021 tournament back in May, an ICC requirement. The BCCI had similar issues when hosting the 2016 tournament, and there looks to be no change in the Indian government’s position despite the board’s protests. Failure to secure that exemption four years ago saw the ICC withhold an equivalent sum from India’s share of revenue from the governing body’s grants, with the 2021 tournament potentially set for a similar fate.

All the teams that qualified for the 2020 event in Australia will now participate in India in 2021.

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