ICC World T20 pushed back from 2018 to 2020

ICC World T20 pushed back from 2018 to 2020

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The ICC World T20 tournament scheduled to be held in 2018 has been pushed back by two years to 2020 owing to the bilateral commitments of the top member nations in the coming year. The other reason stated for the delay was a large number of ICC events that have been played since 2016.

“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, the source confirmed that the tournament will return in 2020 for sure.

“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 previous editions of the tournament were held in South Africa (2007), England (2009), West Indies (2010), Sri Lanka (2012), Bangladesh (2014) and India (2016).

The bilateral series have been given more importance owing to the monetary benefits they provide to the respective boards in the form of broadcasts deals. The BCCI is the major board that has been benefited by the selling of broadcast rights when India plays at home or away. 

Moreover, the Indian team is set to be on the road for the better part of next year starting with South Africa tour, followed by away series against England and Australia respectively.

On being questioned whether the delay can be termed as a setback for ICC the source replied, "Not at all. There are enough T20 leagues and the fans will have a lot to look forward to."

However, the next edition of ICC Champions Trophy tournament is all set to take place in India in 2021 as scheduled. The tournament was expected to be scrapped after the 2013 edition but has continued on owing to strong viewership of the event.

The ICC Annual Conference will start in London from tomorrow and the main agenda will be the inception of the World Test Championship. The meeting is also expected to see the BCCI demanding an increase in their share from ICC's revenue which was recently reduced to $390 million, but member boards are unlikely to give in to their demands if they consider them unreasonable.

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