BCCI Assured of Visas to Pakistan Players For 2021 T20 World Cup
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has assured that the Pakistan cricket team will get the visas for the upcoming T20 World Cup in October. The cricket governing body in India had a discussion about the topic in the Apex Council meeting on Friday and has claimed that the players will not face any difficulty while travelling to India for the mega cricket event.
It has been learnt that BCCI secretary Jay Shah has informed the Apex Council about the government’s decision on giving visas to the Pakistan players.
“The visa issue of Pakistan cricket team has been sorted. However whether the fans can travel across the border to watch matches is still not clear,” an Apex Council member told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
“It will be decided in due course of time. However, we had promised ICC that it will be sorted. The secretary announced during the meeting.”
The COVID-19 situation in the country will also play a huge role in deciding whether the Union Ministry will allow visas to Pakistan fans.
Recently, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo Olympic Games organisation committee have decided not to allow overseas spectators to the Olympic Games which begin on July 23 this year.
The BCCI has also zeroed in on nine venues where World T20 will be held with Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium hosting the final.
The other venues are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Dharamsala.
Apart from the visas issues, several other things were discussed in the BCCI’s Apex Council meeting including the status of the new National Cricket Academy premises, the 2021-22 domestic cricket season and the organisation of T20 leagues tournaments by Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Karnataka and Saurashtra.
It is expected that the BCCI will host the 2021-22 domestic cricket tournaments as per the schedule, while the final decision on that will be taken regarding the COVID-19 situation in the country.