Dubai named one of the alternate venues for T20 World Cup 2021 to be hosted by India

After being given clearance by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to host this year's Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) tournament, UAE's mega city Dubai could be in line to host a major ICC tournament as well after being zeroed down as one of the alternate venues along with Sri Lanka by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to host the next year's T20 World Cup tournament. The T20 World Cup was scheduled to be held in Australia this year but the tournament was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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About the T20 World Cup in India 

The tournament will be played in India during the October-November window next year with the final being scheduled for Sunday, November 14. India had earlier hosted the 2016 edition of the tournament where the West Indies had won their record second title. India was originally scheduled to host the ICC Champions Trophy next year.

However, the ICC had officially announced the Champions Trophy has been scrapped and decided to conduct an extra T20 World Cup in place of the now-defunct tournament and that is how India was awarded the hosting rights for the showpiece event in 2021. 

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T20 World Cup: The reason behind Dubai and Sri Lanka picked as backup venues

According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, Sri Lanka and the likes of Dubai and Sharjah are among the back-up venues for the 2021 men’s T20 World Cup, should the COVID-19 pandemic make it impossible for India to host the event. The report further states that Identifying potential back-up venues is a standard practice for every ICC event, but it has extra significance in this instance because of the nature of the pandemic. 

Also read: Dubai Sports City Chief Claims UAE City Ready To Host IPL 2020 If India Can't: Report

The report also mentions that India is currently the third-worst-hit country in the world in terms of cases, according to most data studies, with over 2 million cases so far and over 45,000 deaths. In comparison, UAE and Sri Lanka are amongst two countries with far lesser coronavirus cases comparitively and are expected to defeat the pandemic sooner than India. The website tried to contact BCCI President Sourav Ganguly about the back-up venues but are yet to receive a response.

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IPL 2020: Here's the detail about new IPL dates and venues

The IPL 2020 was earlier scheduled to start on March 29 but the BCCI decided to postpone the tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic. As per the new IPL dates, the tournament is scheduled to start from September 19 with the final taking place on November 10. Coming to the IPL 2020 venues the matches will be played in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi

(COVER IMAGE: DUBAI INTERNATIONAL STADIUM / INSTAGRAM)