ICC to grant T20I status to all 104 member nations

Internation Cricket Council (ICC) CEO David Richardson has announced that all the 104 ICC member nations will be given T20 International status. While the women's teams will be granted the status on 1st July this year, the men's teams will be given the same on 1st January in 2019.

"All Women's team matches will be awarded T20 International status on July 1st 2018. All the men's team matches will be given T20 International status on January 1st 2019," Richardson said.

As of now, the 12 full members of ICC - Australia, England, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Ireland and Afghanistan - and six other nations - Scotland, Netherlands, Hong Kong, UAE, Oman and Nepal have T20I status.

The step would provide the smaller teams with an opportunity to go toe-to-toe with the hotshots of cricketing world.

Richardson further added that the 2021 Champions Trophy, which was scheduled to be held in India, will now be played as a World T20. "In all likelihood, the 2021 Champions Trophy will be a World T20," he said.

There were discussions about the clash of dates between T20 leagues of the likes of IPL and international matches as well. The ICC CEO revealed that the council would be 'looking at their regulations' and accordingly decide whether to alter the international calendar or not.

Richardson said: "There are occasions where they [T20 leagues] are competing with international bilateral series. We need to look at our regulations to see how we can allow that to happen."

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