Here’s a fact few can turn away from or deny. Pandemic or no pandemic- fans want cricket and there’s nothing quite fulfilling as a great game live cricket. We all know the kind of travesty that 2021 is unfolding, especially here in the heart of the sub-continent. Over the course of the last 48 hours, no fewer than 3.52 lakh COVID 19 cases have been registered in India.
If you particularly look at the most troubled regions or states, then you will find that not just the National Capital Territory Region of Delhi, also known as the Delhi NCR region, but even the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan are persisting with a state of lockdown.
Fundamentally speaking, this last Monday, i.e., April 26 the week-long lockdown should have ended but instead, knowning the constant rise in the number of cases, it has been extended to yet another week.
Yet, a thing continues untroubled and unsullied by the chaos of the pandemic around: it’s the Indian Premier League’s 2021 edition, the fourteenth season.
But if you thought that the IPL is the only big T20 rollicking action slated for this year, then you couldn’t be any further from the truth; another cricketing extravaganza is on the cusp of taking place.
You guessed it right: The T20 World Cup 2021 is the next big thing in the world of cricket, a format that we all love and simply cannot imagine the modern construct of the game without.
But then as with every enticing prospect, there is also a concern lingering somewhere in the shadows.
One of the latest news updates from the world of T20 cricket suggests that Australia, which was since always the venue of the big event, might not actually host the said tournament.
Stunned? Shocked? Whatever it is, it’s time to confront the truth.
Although there are five months since the T20 World Cup 2021, but the surge of COVID 19 cases in India have left the authorities with no other option but to keep a reserve venue for the mother of all T20 cricketing battles. And it’s the United Arab Emirates that has been chosen as the alternative in this regard.
Fundamentally speaking, the T20 World Cup was always slated to be held in Australia during the months of October-November, 2021. But then, the event was postponed by the revered International Cricket Council (ICC), an act post which the BCCI went ahead, sensing an opportunity to host the Indian Premier League, which is on as we speak.
That being said, even as one notes the ongoing developments of the Indian Premier League, there are certain players who have already packed their bags off for their homes, leaving the mega franchise-based tournament in the middle of it all. None other than Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson have already left for their homes.
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As a matter of fact, players like David Warner and Steve Smith are also rumoured to be leaving soon, if the reports are correct. Although, no confirmation about the matter has reached the public domain at this point in time.
As of the last year, it was none other than the UAE that came to the BCCI’s rescue during the wake of the pandemic, with all scheduled IPL games taking place in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the backup venues when it just wasn’t possible to host any T20 outing anywhere in India.
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