Muscat Cricket Stadium: The capital city of Oman in Muscat is highly likely to host its first major world event later this year.
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It was exactly a week ago that the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) had confirmed UAE as a venue for the remainder of the 14th season of the Indian Premier League. While the exact fixtures haven’t been revealed as of now, the cricket board had given significant hints of hosting the tournament in September-October.
The development means that there would not be many days between the final of IPL 2021 and the opening match of ICC T20 World Cup 2021. India, who have the hosting rights for the world event, have sought time till June 28 from the ICC (International Cricket Council) before taking a final decision on the World Cup.
Considering the number of COVID-19 cases in India, it would be almost impossible for them to host a 16-team world event. As a result, the tournament is almost certain to move to the UAE. With IPL 2021 also to be played in the UAE, pitches across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah will have to be monitored for they are bound to wear out due to the hosting of multiple matches in a short time span.
Will ICC T20 World Cup 2021 be played in Oman?
To counter such a situation, there have been reports of conducting one leg of World Cup in Oman to ensure that load on pitches in the UAE remains manageable. If another report is to be believed, BCCI have already informed the ICC with respect to hosting the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman.
“Yes, the BCCI, during the ICC board meeting [earlier this week], has formally asked for a four-week window to take a final call but, internally, they have said that they would like to keep the hosting rights and wouldn’t mind the tournament being held in UAE and Oman,” a source close to the developments was quoted as saying by PTI on the condition of anonymity.
Highlighting India’s 1,00,000+ daily cases, the source further talked about how uncertainty regarding the third wave of coronavirus will force the BCCI to move the World Cup out of India.
“If you think about it practically, India is now reporting around 1,20,000-plus cases which is close to one third of what was being reported at the end of April and start of this month.
“But sitting on June 28, if you say ‘yes’ to holding the World T20 in India, how can you predict the health situation in October if there is a third wave,” the source asked.
Muscat Cricket Stadium
It is worth mentioning that the Al Ameerat Cricket Ground in Muscat has been informally finalized to conduct the World Cup. It is worth mentioning that this will be the first major world event which will be hosted in Oman, if it happens later this year.
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As of now, the Al Ameerat Cricket Ground has hosted six ODIs (all in 2020) and 30 T20Is.
