Amid fears of the 2023 cricket World Cup being moved out of India, the International Cricket Council has now assured the BCCI that there are no such plans in place and that the marquee event will stay in India. ICC CEO Dave Richardson said that there no problems in the current scenario and the tax problems which are prevalent will be sorted out since there is enough time.
"Getting tax exemptions is very important for world cricket because every cent that is made by the ICC revenue wise is put back into the game. This helps countries like the West Indies who don't generate as much revenue," said Richardson at a promotional event.
'We've got a lot of time to resolve issues'
India hosted the 2016 World T20 and the Union government had refused to give any tax exemptions to ICC following which the governing council had asked the BCCI to cough up USD 23 million (Rs 161 crore) as compensation or lose the 2023 World Cup rights.
"But having said that there are no plans of taking away the hosting (from India) and I'm sure we will get it (exemption) in the end, we've still got a lot of time," Richardson added.
One of the major talking points at the event was the scheduling of the 2020 ICC World T20 since it did not feature an India Pakistan clash in the group stage, which will happen for the first time in an ICC event since 2011 World Cup. The CEO explained that the schedule was prepared according to rankings and hence, there was no place for an India vs Pakistan clash in the league stages.
"We have arranged the groups in a way that has credibility and is based on the ranking system. The teams are placed according to their ranks. In this case, Pakistan were number one in the rankings in their group and India number two," Richardson said.
"...we found no credible way of putting them in the same group. Hopefully, from a world perspective they will meet each other in the semi-finals or final," he added.
