IPL 2021 postponement won't affect India's chances of hosting T20 World Cup, says BCCI member

The BCCI suspended the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League on Tuesday amid the rising COVID-19 cases across the country, but the board remains optimistic about hosting the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place later this year (November).

In a conversation with ANI, a member of the board said that a decision is expected in July on whether India is in a position to host the T20 World Cup.

"We're monitoring the situation and wait and watch is the best description at this stage. We probably wouldn't go much beyond July as it's a World Cup and they can't be pulled off in a matter of weeks!" the member told ANI.

"We are confident that the situation will improve in the coming days and the World Cup would go ahead in India as planned.

"We have zeroed in on nine venues and preparations are on and considering that we have quite a few more venues across the country, we can prepare back up venues within the country itself so that we do not burden the health infrastructure for a particular state or another in the eventuality that the situation has not returned to normal by the time of the showpiece event."

The IPL 2021 was suspended after four franchises confirmed COVID-19 infections among their staff, as well as members of the dressing room. Kolkata Knight Riders' two players -- Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, while CSK's CEO Kasi Viswanathan, bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji and a member of the travel staff was infected with the virus.