India's white-ball home series against England adjourned till early 2021
After the postponement of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup due to the current COVID-19 situation in India, the white-ball series against England, originally scheduled to be played in late September to early October, will also be postponed until early 2021.
However, backdoor talks between the BCCI and the ECB are still very much on. The motive is to try and combine the white-ball tour with the pre-scheduled Test series in the first quarter of 2021.
Jay Shah, BCCI's Honorary Secretary, took the media in confidence regarding this and talked about how they are trying to reschedule the highly-anticipated India versus England series. He said:
“The BCCI and ECB are working closely to finalize the day-wise schedule as we move towards the resumption of cricket. The India-England series is one of the most anticipated contests in world cricket. The two teams compete hard on the field and provide some riveting moments."
The tour is being planned to schedule both red-ball and white-ball formats: Jay Shah
Shah added:
“I am pleased with the way BCCI and ECB have managed the situation. The rescheduled tour is also being redesigned in a way to accommodate both red and white-ball format and will now be a comprehensive one.”
This announcement was a no-brainer. COVID-19 is still running rampant in India, and uncertainty was looming over the future of the series.
ECB’s Chief Executive Officer, Tom Harrison also commented on this matter and spoke about how the postponement of the WT20 has provided them clarity in trying to reschedule the bilateral series. He said:
"Now that we have clarity regarding the postponement of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, it enables us to work with other Boards to progress the vital task of optimising the international schedules in the challenging circumstances that we have all been having to address with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“International cricket between India and England is a highlight of the cricketing calendar and we look forward to working with BCCI to firm-up the schedules for these eagerly anticipated tours as soon as possible.”
Among the cricket-playing nations, India is one of the hardest-hit countries as far as the novel pandemic is concerned.
India's away series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka have already been postponed. In addition, the Asia Cup and the ICC Men's World T20 have also been deferred. The Men in Blue last played an international game back in March against New Zealand.