IPL 2020 Governing Council to decide venue & schedule on Friday; read what's on the agenda

Soon after the ICC officially postponed the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia, the IPL Governing Council has convened an emergent meeting on Friday to decide the course of the cash-rich tournament. The council is expected to zero down on the venue and schedule of the 2020 IPL which has been indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Owing to the prevalent situation in India, the BCCI has stated that it is open to hosting the tournament abroad. 

A member of the Governing Council has confirmed to Republic Media Network that the 2020 edition is likely to be truncated to 6 weeks and will be played between October and November.

Despite keeping its options open, board President Sourav Ganguly has stated that staging the tournament in India is a priority. However, UAE has emerged as a likely venue for the 13th edition of the IPL. Reports have also suggested that the board has considered Mumbai-Pune as an alternative venue to stage the entire league considering the infrastructure. 

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T20 World Cup Postponed

In a major development, the upcoming T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia later this year has been postponed to 2021 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was taken in the ICC meeting held on Monday. The ICC has zeroed down a window between October-November 2021 for the postponed World Cup with the final date being November 14. Consequently, the T20 World Cup 2021 has also been pushed to October – November 2022 with the final on 13 November 2022 while the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in India between October – November 2023 with the final on 26 November 2023.

"At today’s meeting of the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC), windows for the next three ICC men’s events were also agreed to bring clarity to the calendar and give the sport the best possible opportunity over the next three years to recover from the disruption caused by COVID-19," the ICC said in a statement. 

"The IBC Board agreed to continue to monitor the rapidly changing situation and assess all the information available in order to make a considered decision on future hosts to ensure the sport is able to stage safe and successful global events in 2021 and 2022. The IBC Board will also continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand in February next year. In the meantime, planning for this event continues as scheduled," it added.

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