Amid growing speculations over whether the ICC T20 World Cup will be staged in Australia with the coronvirus threat looming large, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday cleared the air regarding the fate of the upcoming showpiece event by stating that the tournament will take place as per scheduled.

“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 said 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 international governing body confirmed.

Earlier, Cricket Australia (CA) chief Kevin Roberts said that he was hoping that the men’s T20 World Cup could be played as per schedule in normal circumstances.

“We’re really hoping that all forms of sport can be played again in a few weeks or a few months’ time,” Roberts was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

“None of us are experts in this situation obviously, so our hope is that we’re back in very much normal circumstances come October and November when the men’s T20 World Cup is to be played.”

The deadly outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic, which has already killed more than 7,400 people and affected over 1,80,000 people, has severely affected the sporting calendars. Almost all international, first-class and List A fixtures in cricket have either been cancelled or postponed till further notice.

BCCI last week had announced their decision to postpone this year’s IPL before suspending all the domestic fixtures as well. “The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) situation,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah had said in an official statement