Pakistan will back plans to hold T20 World Cup but ‘not at all costs’

KARACHI: This year’s ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Australia is likely to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. And if that happens, it would be grave news for all stakeholders, considering that the 16-nation tournament is seen as the biggest cricketing spectacle of the year.

Cricket board all over the world and especially the ones already feeling the financial crunch like the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would be hit hard in case the money-spinning global tournament is pushed to next year.

That’s why it was hardly surprising when a top Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official announced his support for the T20 World Cup to be held as scheduled in the last quarter of 2020.

But Wasim Khan, PCB’s chief executive, also made it clear Pakistan’s support for the tournament would only happen if it doesn’t pose any safety risks to players and officials.

“We (PCB) believe that unless there is a Covid-19 reason, this year’s Twenty20 World Cup should happen as scheduled,” Wasim told ‘The News’ in an interview. “So, Pakistan will support the idea of having the tournament this year. We will back Australia if they plan to go ahead but not at all costs. Players’ safety will have to come first,” he stressed.

Wasim did admit that having the T20 World Cup as planned (from October 18 to November 15) is going to be a huge logistical challenge for the organisers. “It’s certainly going to be a real logistical challenge,” he said. “I mean there would be 16 teams competing in the event so you’ll need to devise plans to implement various necessary protocols like social distancing.”

There have been reports that ICC and the Australian organisers have made up their mind to postpone the tournament by 12 months but Wasim doesn’t think that any decision has been made.

“There won’t be any quick decisions,” he said. “There is going to be an ICC chief executives meeting early next month in which this issue is going to be discussed. “The thing is that a decision to postpone the event is going to have major repercussions.”

Moving the T20 World Cup to next year will have a knock-on effect on the entire international cricket calendar. The 2021 Twenty20 World Cup to be held in India will be pushed to 2022 and the 50-over World Cup in February 2023 in India will also have to be moved.

There were calls to move this year’s T20 World Cup to early next year but there is no window big enough in the ICC calendar to fit it in during that time. There are major events like India’s five match Test series against England starting late January.

All of this will be discussed by chief executives of cricket boards from around the world during ICC’s two-day teleconference on June 4-5.

Meanwhile, former Australia captain Mark Taylor has predicted that the ICC will decide to postpone the T20 World Cup. “I think that’s the most likely scenario (postponement of T20 World Cup) because 15 teams planning to come to Australia between October and November, 45 matches over a proposed seven venues, national travel is going to extremely difficult in the world we are living in,” Taylor said in an interview.

“A 14-day isolation before that makes it even harder. More than likely that event is not going ahead. So if the ICC decides to postpone the event that will open the door for the BCCI to say that we will have our IPL is India which actually puts the onus back on individuals then rather than nations moving whole teams over to a certain country.”