By Khurram Habib

New Delhi, Jun 28 (IANS): The Indian cricket board has decided to inform the International Cricket Council (ICC) that it won't be able to host the T20 World Cup, leaving the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was kept as standby for the tournament, as the host.

The tournament will be held in October-November, reportedly between October 17 and November 14, with some of the initial games also to be played in Oman.

"We had a meeting of office-bearers today (on Monday). We decided that it will be impossible to host the T20 World Cup amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. There are talks of a third wave. So, it would be highly risky. We will soon inform the ICC about our decision," Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Rajiv Shukla told IANS on Monday.

The tournament will be hosted by India even though it will be played in the UAE as ICC has already clarified.

The ICC said it will make a statement once it hears from the BCCI.

"We will make a statement soon, once we hear from the BCCI," said an ICC official.

It has been learnt that the BCCI also failed to guarantee tax exemption to ICC.

A source aware of the developments told IANS, "The BCCI had filed application for tax exemption but there was no intimation from the [finance] ministry on it."

The BCCI would have had to pay a minimum of Rs 227 crore and a maximum of Rs 906 crore to the ICC on failure to get exemption.

The Board had already missed a few deadlines over the past one-and-a-half years to guarantee exemption.

The shifting of the T20 World Cup to UAE comes after the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 was suspended on May 4.

In fact, an ICC team of officials that was to visit India for a recce for the T20 World Cup during IPL 2021, cancelled its visit due to the horrific COVID-19 situation in India.