UAE standby venue for T20 World Cup: BCCI

New Delhi: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been named as standby for the T20 World Cup in case the worsening Covid-19 situation does not improve in India, a top official of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) confirmed.

"It (hosting venue) would be the UAE. We're hoping again that it would be done by the BCCI. So, we'll take the tournament there, but it'll still be done by the BCCI," Dhiraj Malhotra, BCCI's general manager for game development, told BBC's Stumped podcast.

India are due to host the tournament in October-November but a second wave of Covid-19 has hit the country badly with well over 3.5 lakh new cases and 3,000-plus deaths daily over the last few days.

If the situation doesn't improve, it will be the first time India will be hosting an international tournament or a series outside the country.

The BCCI has hosted the Indian Premier League (IPL) abroad before -- in South Africa in 2009 and in the UAE in 2020. It also hosted part of the 2014 IPL edition in the UAE.

"I've just been named one of the tournament directors, so I'm doing everything we can to make sure it happens," said Malhotra.

Australia will host the T20 World Cup in 2022 which was postponed from last year due to the pandemic.