Michael Hussey: Difficult to play T20 World Cup in India this year

Michael Hussey. Pic/AFP

Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey has said that it would be difficult to play T20 World Cup in India this year because of the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On May 4, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 was postponed due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases. After it was postponed, Hussey (CSK batting coach) ended up testing positive for Covid-19 and he has now finally returned to Australia.

"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. As I said earlier, if they're playing in different cities, that is when the risk goes up," Hussey told Fox Cricket.

"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," he added.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has called for a Special General Meeting (SGM) to be conducted virtually on May 29 with an eye on the ICC meeting to be held on June 1.

The focus of the meeting will be discussing the hosting of the T20 World Cup. Speaking to ANI, sources in the know of developments in the board said that the idea to call for the meeting is to discuss the way forward with hosting the T20 World Cup in October-November.

"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," the source said.

The BCCI has picked nine venues for the event -- Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Dharamsala, and Lucknow.

In the last Apex Council meeting, the state associations had been told to keep preparations on for the event with an eye on the coronavirus pandemic.

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