“It's going to be very difficult in my view to play T20 World Cup in India" - Michael Hussey
Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey believes it will be very difficult to organize the T20 World Cup in India this year, owing to the grim COVID-19 situation in the country. The T20 World Cup is scheduled to take place in October-November.
Michael Hussey was in India for IPL 2021, representing Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as their batting coach. He returned to Australia earlier this week, having recovered from COVID-19.
Speaking to Fox Cricket, Michael Hussey talked about India’s chances of hosting the T20 World Cup.
"I think it's going to be very difficult in my view to play T20 World Cup in India. We're talking about eight teams in the IPL. I think there are probably a similar number, maybe more teams coming in from overseas for the T20 World Cup, there'd be more venues. If they're playing in different cities, that is when the risk goes up," Hussey said.
Michael Hussey added that it would be a safer option to shift the T20 World Cup to the UAE or some other country as teams will be extremely wary of traveling to India under the current circumstances.
"I think they'll have to look some pretty big contingency plans, perhaps looking at the UAE or somewhere like that that could host the World T20. I think there will be a lot of cricket boards around the world that'd be pretty nervous about going back to India for a cricket tournament," Hussey added.
BCCI have called for SGM on May 29 to discuss T20 World Cup hosting
In the wake of the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have called for a Special General Meeting (SGM), which will be held virtually on May 29.
The main focus of the SGM will be the hosting of the T20 World Cup in India. The SGM will be held a couple of days before the ICC meet (on June 1) to discuss organizing the T20 World Cup.
"The ICC will have the meeting on June 1 and before that, we will have our own meeting on May 29 to discuss the COVID-19 situation and what all measures need to be taken with an eye on the T20 World Cup which is slated to be held in India in October-November," ANI quoted sources as saying about the BCCI SGM.
The BCCI have already picked nine venues for the T20 World Cup - Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Dharamsala, and Lucknow.