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We will definitely go to the World Cup - Prof. Arjuna de Silva

26 Apr 2021

By Revatha S. Silva
[caption id="attachment_132174" align="alignleft" width="357"] Chairman of SL cricket’s Administrative Committee Prof. Arjuna de Silva[/caption]
Australia, England, New Zealand, as well as Pakistan have reportedly shown their concerns last week over the participation in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I World Cup, scheduled to be held in India during October and November this year.

India recorded a chilling number of close to 350,000 cases on Saturday (24). 2,700 people were reported dead due to the virus on Saturday alone. The staggering numbers are the highest reported in the country since the outbreak of the coronavirus in March last year. India’s total number of dead due to Covid-19 is now close to 200,000.

What is the position of Sri Lanka in this regard? Do Sri Lanka too have their concerns over participating in the mega ICC event which is to take place in a pandemic-ravaged India?

“Despite their (the said four countries) discontent, we see that India is in the absolute peak of the pandemic at the moment. Therefore by October, the situation should be better. With the peak at present, they are anyway continuing with the IPL (the Indian Premier League), which is to their credit.

“If all those countries want to play in the IPL, no one will pull out of the World Cup too, unless Pakistan pulls out. That is because it is in India and basically the Indian cricket board is a very strong one,” said Prof. Arjuna de Silva, Chairman of the Administrative Committee, which now runs Sri Lanka’s cricket.

“Medically, by October, I don’t think the Covid-19 situation will be as bad as it is now in India. By that time, they would have sorted their things out. But the crowds being at the matches will be a different issue. You may have to play with limited spectators,” a positive Prof. de Silva told the Morning Sports yesterday (25).

“We are definitely going ahead with our preparations. Our team has enough experience being in the bio-secure bubble. We also have a large medical team to assist our side. We have almost ten doctors working for the cricket team alone. We can handle it and we will definitely go,” confirmed Prof. de Silva.

The ICC is reportedly waiting till June-July to take the final call on holding the event in India also indicating that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would be considered as an alternate venue if India does not look fit to hold the event on schedule, by that time.

ICC T20 World Cup 2021 - 1st Round Schedule
  1. 18 Oct: Sri Lanka vs. Ireland (Group A)
  2. 18 Oct: Papua New Guinea vs. Oman (Group A)
  3. 19 Oct: Bangladesh vs. Namibia (Group B)
  4. 19 Oct: Netherlands vs. Scotland (Group B)
  5. 20 Oct: Ireland vs. Oman (Group A)
  6. 20 Oct: Sri Lanka vs. Papua New Guinea (Group A)
  7. 21 Oct: Namibia vs. Scotland (Group B)
  8. 21 Oct: Bangladesh vs. Netherlands (Group B)
  9. 22 Oct: Papua New Guinea vs. Ireland (Group A)
  10. 22 Oct: Sri Lanka vs. Oman (Group A)
  11. 23 Oct: Netherlands vs. Namibia (Group B)
  12. 23 Oct: Bangladesh vs. Scotland (Group B)
* ICC has announced that the 7th T20 World Cup 2021 is schedule be held in India in October and November 2021 * The 7th edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was previously scheduled to be held in Australia from 18 October to 15 November 2020 but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic * ICC also announced that Australia would host the 8th edition of the tournament in 2022 * As of 31 Dec. 2018, the top nine ranked ICC Full Members, alongside hosts India, qualified directly for the 2021 tournament * Of those 10 teams, the top eight ranked sides qualified for the Super 12s stage of the tournament * Sri Lanka and Bangladesh did not qualify for the Super 12s, instead being placed in the group stage of the competition * They were joined by the six teams who had qualified for the tournament via the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier * Those six countries coming through the 2019 Qualifier are Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands, Oman, Papua New Guinea, and Scotland * Sri Lanka is in Group A along with Ireland, Papua New Guinea, and Oman * The Oman team is coached by former Sri Lanka Captain Duleep Mendis * Out of those six qualifiers, Ireland is a Test playing country * The top four teams from the group stage will advance to the Super 12s * Papua New Guinea became the first team to qualify directly for the 2021 T20 World Cup, after they won Group A of the qualifier tournament, finishing above the Netherlands on net run rate * It was the first time that Papua New Guinea had qualified for a World Cup in any format * Ireland became the second team to qualify directly to the competition, after they won Group B of the qualifier tournament, also on net run rate * The final qualifier match saw Oman become the last team to qualify, after they narrowly beat Hong Kong by 12 runs


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