ICC World T20 2021: BCCI reportedly shortlists venues; Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai named

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Dec 23, 2020, 02:56 PM IST

The ICC World T20 was last held in 2016 and it was won by the West Indies by beating England in Kolkata. (Image credit: Twitter)

The BCCI have reportedly announced the venues for hosting the ICC World T20 2021, with Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai named.

Just ahead of the 89^th BCCI Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Motera on Thursday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has reportedly announced the venues for staging the ICC World T20 2021. According to a report in the Indian Express, the BCCI has picked Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mohali, Dharamsala, Kolkata and Mumbai to host the matches during the World Cup. It is expected that the BCCI AGM will give a proper direction to the hosting of the ICC World T20 2021 and it might also address some issues which members may be having. This is the second time that India will be hosting the ICC World T20, having hosted it once in 2016 which the West Indies won.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) had planned to organise two mega events in the shortest format in 2020 and 2021. The World Cup was set to be played in Australia in November this year but the COVID-19 outbreak across the world led to the governing body postponing the event to 2022 while the 2021 edition stayed in India.

Agenda on AGM

However, there is an issue relating to tax exemptions that could impact India’s hosting for the ICC events. There's only a week left for the BCCI to meet the ICC's deadline of giving complete assurance that the global body will get full tax exemption for holding the World T20 in October-November or else it will be shifted to the UAE. While there has been precedence of exemptions during earlier global events, the current tax laws won't allow exemption for a sporting event and it will be interesting to see what will be the BCCI's stand on the issue.

In 2018, the BCCI was asked by the ICC to either pay USD 23 million by the end of the year as compensation for the tax deductions incurred in hosting the 2016 World T20 or end up losing the 2023 World Cup rights.

In the ICC board meeting, held in Singapore in October 2018, the minutes of the meeting read that the BCCI would have to compensate for the tax deductions that the ICC faced as India hosted the 2016 World T20, after no exemption in taxes was given by either the state or the central government.