The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials will be visiting Oman and Dubai on July 16 and 17 to inspect the grounds and to discuss important issues regarding the T20 World Cup. As per Insidesport sources, groupings of ICC T20 World Cup will be announced on Friday.
The announcement will be made by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah in presence of ICC officials at 3.30 PM. In the previous edition, India and Pakistan were in the same group (B) along with New Zealand, Australia, and Bangladesh. Fans would be hoping for a repeat owing to the massive following of India vs Pakistan in the two countries and worldwide. The two countries usually play in ICC events and the ongoing political tussle between the two countries has become a roadblock for bilateral series in India, Pakistan. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has already confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be staged in the UAE and Oman due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation in India. The BCCI will remain the hosts of the event, which will now be held in Dubai International Stadium, the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Sharjah Stadium, and the Oman Cricket Academy Ground, from October 17 to November 14. The first round of the tournament, comprising the eight qualifying teams, will now be split between Oman and UAE. Four of these teams will then progress to the Super 12s round where they’ll join the eight automatic qualifiers.
The upcoming edition will be the first Men’s T20 World Cup played since 2016 when West Indies beat England in the final in India. The eight teams competing in the preliminary stage are Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, Oman, and Papua New Guinea, before the play-off stage and the final on November 14.
