The International Cricket Council (ICC) have announced that the men’s Twenty20 World Cup, taking place in India between October and November this year, will go ahead as planned.

The news comes despite daily COVID-19 infections topping 100 000 in India, and after the announcement in 2020 that the women’s version of the tournament, to be played in New Zealand, was postponed to 2022 “because of the impact the pandemic has had on cricket globally.”

Acting ICC chief executive, Geoff Allardice, said he is confident the tournament in India will not be swayed.

“We are certainly proceeding on the assumption that the event is going ahead as planned,” Allardice said.

“We’re working with the BCCI and different elements of that event at the moment, but we do have back-up plans that can be activated when the time’s right,” he said.

COVID-19 vaccinations will not be mandatory for players at the tournament, with Allardice saying this is not realistic with different vaccine rollouts in different nations.

“I think our medial committee and our board are recommending that participants should be vaccinated wherever possible, but I think the dynamic in each country is going to be different, both with the supply of vaccine or the availability of vaccine, and where sportspeople or international sportspeople might be in the queue to receive those vaccines,” Allardice said.