Will the ICC T20 Cricket World be played this year? Find out what ICC said

The coronavirus pandemic has undeniably resulted in a global catastrophe with close to 8,000 people losing their lives due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Alongside, the novel coronavirus has led to a partial shutdown across the world with people choosing to self-quarantine themselves. Major political meetings, events, matches have also been either cancelled or postponed.

Earlier in the month IPL that was scheduled to start from 29th was pushed to 15th April. Now, there is doubts regarding International Cricket Council's (ICC) forthcoming T20 World Cup 2020. It is one of the most important cricketing events. Amid the coronavirus scare, there were doubts whether the T20 World Cup would be played or not. However, the international cricket body has announced that it will "go ahead as scheduled" despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis across the globe.

The ICC T20 World Cup 2020 is scheduled to be played between October 18 to November 15 at seven venues across Australia.

"In response to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 Local Organising Committee is monitoring the situation closely with relevant authorities, and will continue to do so," ICC announced in a statement.

"The ICC Men's T20 World Cup is scheduled to take place from 18 October - 15 November 2020 in seven venues across Australia. We are planning for the event to go ahead as scheduled," the statement added.

The doubts regarding the T20 World Cup 2020 rose after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Cricket South Africa (CSA) last week decided to reschedule the three-match ODI series due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Prior to that, the BCCI suspended the Indian Premier League (IPL) till April 15 as a precautionary measure. On Monday, the BCCI had announced that it had shut its headquarters in Mumbai. Furthermore, the cricket board also directed its employees to work from home for the time being starting Tuesday. According to reports, the employees have been asked to "work from home" whereas all the cricketing operations have already been suspended till further notice.