The T20 World Cup will now be held in the United Arab Emirates, according to the BCCI.
India had been set to play host to this year’s tournament before being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Officials from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have now agreed, in principle, to the switch and will be informing the ICC of their decision.
“We're moving the tournament to UAE and we will inform the ICC,” said BCCI secretary Jay Shah.
The ICC had set a deadline of June 28 for the BCCI to decide on the matter.
The Indian Premier League had to be suspended in May for the same reasons and will also use the UAE as a backup location when it resumed in September.
The 16-team T20 World Cup will now follow that in October and November.
Shah also said the BCCI is open to having the first round of the tournament matches in Oman, which would give the venues at the UAE more chance to prepare pitches following the IPL.
“The schedule will be done later. We have not decided on the schedule completely. We will inform you soon,” added the BCCI secretary.
India Still Organising
Even though they aren’t able to host the tournament on home soil, India are still organising the event.
There has been speculation that the tournament could be started and finished a day later than first planned but nothing has yet been confirmed.
The ICC are on the lookout for an additional venue to complement the three grounds that would be used in the UAE. They are the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, and Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
With Muscat’s infrastructure improvements, the BCCI and ICC have Oman as another option.
Oman have qualified for this year’s tournament and could play host to the first round of matches, which would include Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Oman, Namibia, and Scotland.
Four of those teams would qualify for the Super 12 stage, where India, Australia, England, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies and Afghanistan await.