The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Friday that the 2020 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which was postponed due to COVID-19, will be held in Australia in 2022, while host India will go ahead with the edition. 2021 as planned. Meanwhile, the Women’s Cricket World Cup, to be held next year, has been postponed until 2022.
The decisions were made by the IBC (the business subsidiary of the ICC) after taking into account health, cricket, and the business impact of COVID-19 around the world.
ICC Acting President Imran Khwaja said: “Over the past few months when considering how we re-organize global events, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in ICC events.
“The decisions the Board has made today are in the best interest of the sport, our partners, and, most importantly, our fans. I would like to thank our partners at BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket New Zealand, as well as the Australian and New Zealand governments for their continued support and commitment to a safe return to ICC events. ”
India: 2021 ??
Australia: 2022 ??CONFIRMED: The next edition of the ICC Men’s World Cup T20 will take place in India, while Australia will host the tournament in 2022! pic.twitter.com/lcFzo4HK7N
– T20 World Cup (@ T20WorldCup) August 7, 2020
? ONLY IN ?
The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, originally scheduled for 2021 in New Zealand, has now been rescheduled for 2022. pic.twitter.com/RMzgVYClyi
– Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) August 7, 2020
The format of the ICC Men’s World Cup T20 2021 will remain the same as for 2020 and all teams that qualified for that event will now participate in India in 2021. A new qualification process will be implemented for the ICC Men’s World Cup T20 2022.
The postponed Women’s Cricket World Cup format, which was originally planned to be held in New Zealand in February-March next year, will remain as it was for 2021. Five teams have already qualified for the event and that will be until 2022. Original qualifying event to determine the final three teams was scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in July 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19. The qualifying event will now take place in 2021.
Reactions from the cricket fraternity came shortly after the announcement:
There is always something positive to take out of any situation, in this case I also say more time for planning and preparations. Same vision, same goal # WorldCup2022 https://t.co/Cuq9kbQuA4
– Mithali Raj (@ M_Raj03) August 7, 2020
However, she feels for the women that their World Cup had to be delayed for a year. We have to make sure that the incredible momentum of the T20 World Cup in March is not missed. We expect a full IPL for women in the summer of 2021. Hopefully Covid will forgive us by then.
– Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 7, 2020

She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.