The International Cricket Council is working on a contingency plan in case India fails to host the T20 World Cup 2021.
The ICC T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia had to be deferred to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ICC has started preparing its contingency plan even as the next edition of the competition is still a year away.
The world governing body for cricket has reportedly listed Sri Lanka and the UAE as the back-up venues for the 16-team global competition.
“Sri Lanka and the UAE are among the back-up venues for the 2021 men’s T20 World Cup, should the Covid-19 pandemic make India an untenable host,” ESPNcricinfo has reported.
The ICC has confirmed that the T20 World Cup will be played in India next year as per earlier plans, while the postponed 2020 edition will be staged in Australia in 2022.
Picking up back up venues is standard practice for the event of the magnitude of a World Cup. But the prevailing COVID-19 threat makes it a necessity as India has become the third most-affected nation by the pandemic.
There have been around 2.4 million COVID-19 positive cases in India, resulting in nearly 47 deaths. The number is rising rapidly with over 67,000 cases reported on Wednesday.