T20 World Cup trophy. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The hosting rights of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 have been taken away from the USA, according to reports. The country was going to host the T20 extravaganza along with the West Indies in 2024.

According to an ICC release back in April 2022, the USA and West Indies directly qualified for the T20 World Cup 2024 as joint hosts. The moment was seen as a huge achievement for the nation which was the first one to be given the status of an associate member of the ICC decades ago.

“The qualification pathway for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 was confirmed with 12 teams qualifying automatically for the event. The top eight teams from the 2022 event will be joined by the two host Members, West Indies and USA plus the next highest-ranked teams on the MRF ICC Men’s T20 rankings table as of 14 November 2022,” the ICC release had stated back then.

According to a report in News18, sources in ICC have confirmed that West Indies is the only host of the T20 World Cup 2024 as the USA doesn’t have an elected cricketing body in place nor does it have a decent first-class structure.

Cricket West Indies have been contracted as World Cup hosts

“For jointly hosted World Cups we often contract with the Full Member (FM) as the host who is fully responsible for the delivery of the Event. The FM would then have a staging agreement with the relevant Members to ensure the successful staging of World Cup matches in other countries. In this case, Cricket West Indies have been contracted as World Cup hosts,” ICC sources were quoted as saying by News18.

The source was further baffled by ICC’s decision to give the USA the hosting rights and asked why can’t the cricket’s governing body take Nepal and African nations into consideration for giving hosting rights.

“What I can’t understand is, why is the ICC so bent on “developing” a sport in a country that is the leading first-world nation on the planet and can afford to fend for itself? On top of that, the US neither has an elected body in place nor does it have a decent First Class culture. So what’s the hurry to take the World Cup there? Why can’t the ICC put that much emphasis on developing cricket in Nepal or any of the African nations that truly follow and play the sport? One must ask the ICC to explain their “love” for America,” the source further said.

The report further said that Ricky Skerritt, who played pivotal a role in the USA getting a nomination as co-host for the 2024 T20 World Cup will now be replaced by Oman’s Pankaj Khimji in the ICC nominations committee. Khimji is also a member director of the Associate Nations in the governing body.

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