The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly has reportedly reached Mumbai as the Indian board gears up for an all-important meeting to discuss tax exemption for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, set to be hosted by India in October-November. BCCI needs to give a tax guarantee to the international body by Tuesday.
As per ANI, few important decisions are set to be taken by BCCI as they seek clarity for the hosting of the T20 World Cup. BCCI has to notify ICC by the end of June regarding the hosting rights of the tournament. Multiple reports have suggested that BCCI has internally told ICC that the tournament will be moved to Oman and UAE due to the COVID-19 situation in India.
The ICC board meeting had confirmed that the BCCI would retain hosting rights of the T20 World Cup even if the tournament is moved out of India. ICC had reportedly requested the Indian Cricket Board to be prepared to host the event in the Gulf countries in case India is not able to host the tournament.
BCCI has reportedly been discussing with the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) for hosting the 2021 T20 World Cup in UAE. The Indian cricket board has already moved the second half of IPL 2021 to UAE. Due to a recent turn of events, Sri Lanka has reportedly entered the race as the dark horse to help India host the event. While the UAE has three venues in Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, Sri Lanka will have many more options, with Colombo alone having three stadiums.
Sri Lanka Cricket had also reportedly offered BCCI an opportunity to host the remaining games of IPL 2021. However, Indian Cricket Board eventually decided to host the second half of the tournament in UAE before the T-20 World Cup.