PARIS: Say goodbye to the Champions Trophy again and get ready for back-to-back editions of the World Twenty20 instead. The future of the Champions Trophy is on shaky ground after the ICC board approved replacing the 2021 Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in India, with a World T20 in the same year. The World T20 will be also played in Australia in 2020.
“ICC Members have signed off a new Future Tours Programme (FTP) for 2019-2023 that incorporates the introduction of a World Test Championship and an additional ICC World T20 event in place of the Champions Trophy in 2021,” an ICC release said. “This provides opportunities for 16 teams to compete at a global level with a sub-regional, regional and global qualification process every two years, giving more regular cricket to more Members.”
This will be the second time the World T20 has been held in consecutive years: in 2009 the event was held in England and then, less than a year later, in West Indies. It is the third time, since the 2009 Champions Trophy, that its death has been announced.
