ICC World T20 unlikely to be played in 2018

The World T20 has been the most awaited tournament by the fans as well as the teams, as it is a World Cup and is played every two years. The inaugural T20 World Cup was played in the year 2007, where India emerged victorious over arch-rivals Pakistan in a tense finale in South Africa.

The seventh edition of the tournament was scheduled to be held in the year 2018, but the 2018 edition has been scrapped and pushed to the year 2020 where the top member nations do not have as many bilateral series as they will be playing in 2018.

Reports quoted sources inside the International Cricket Council (ICC) as stating that, the next edition of the tournament will be played in 2020, although the venue is still yet to be finalised by the apex cricketing board.

“Yes, it is true that we are skipping with World T20 edition in 2018. Look, no venue was decided. The primary reason is there are too many bilateral series happening between member nations. It was not possible to schedule the tournament in 2018,” an influential ICC source told PTI about the development.

However, as per the reports, the tournament will return in 2020, which will be hosted either in South Africa or Australia, with the venues to be decided later in the year.

“Yes, the tournament will return in 2020. It could be South Africa or Australia. The other reason apart from the bilateral series was that with too many ICC events on the anvil, the member nations were also of the view that it needed to be spaced out,” the source said.

The T20 World Cup’s thus far

The inaugural T20 World Cup was hosted by South Africa, which turned into a mega-event. The following World Cup was conducted in England, with West Indies and Sri Lanka hosting the next two editions of the tournament. Bangladesh hosted the 2014 edition of the World Cup, while India had its chance to host in the year 2016 where West Indies were victors thanks to the amazing knock from the burly all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite.

Despite most countries hosting their own domestic T20 leagues, the World T20 is still the deal for the countries to test their power in the shortest format of cricket. One of the reasons for delaying the World Cup is the major broadcasting deal signed by the countries for the bilateral series.

Would it not be a setback for ICC if World T20 is postponed? The source said: “Not at all. There are enough T20 leagues and the fans will have a lot to look forward to.”