THE long-expected shifting of the Twenty20 World Cup from coronavirus-stricken India to the Middle East was finally confirmed on Tuesday. The UAE and Oman will host the showpiece event of cricket’s shortest format from Oct 17 to Nov 14 this year after India’s ability to hold the tournament was severely limited by a massive surge in Covid-19 cases, which also forced its lucrative Indian Premier League to be postponed and shifted to the UAE. The UAE also played host to the final 20 matches of the Pakistan Super League season, which concluded last week after being postponed in March due to virus cases.

As the pandemic raged, a number of mega-scale sporting events were shifted to this year — namely the European Football Championships and the Tokyo Olympics. Euro 2020, being played across Europe, marked the return of major events when it kicked off last month and the World Twenty20 will be the fourth sporting extravaganza to be held this year after the Olympics, which open on July 23, and South America’s Copa America football tournament which is currently underway in Brazil — another country that has been ravaged by the virus. While the Euros are being held with limited spectators at venues, the Copa America is taking place behind closed doors. The International Cricket Council hasn’t yet confirmed whether or not fans would be allowed in stadiums for World T20 matches. The UAE, which is among the countries with the highest vaccination rates, started welcoming live audiences to sporting events in May but the risk of coronavirus still looms large. The Delta variant of Covid-19, which wreaked havoc in India, is spreading quickly and has been a cause of concern to sports organisers around the world. There will be a biosecure bubble for teams at the World T20 and all sorts of precautions will be taken but as the Euros and Copa America have shown, no tournament is immune from the threat of the pandemic.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2021