With the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, almost all the sports tournament has either been cancelled or postponed. While the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, scheduled to begin on March 29 was postponed ’till further notice’, the ICC remains hopeful that the T20 World Cup goes ahead as per the schedule. The tournament is slated to take place in Australia from October 18 to November 5.
Aaron Finch prepared for T20 World Cup postponement
Meanwhile, Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch has said that he is prepared for the T20 World Cup to be postponed amid the global outbreak of COVID-19. Finch doesn’t see that holding up given the current health crises affecting lakhs of people worldwide.
Finch told ‘SEN Radio’, “I think we might have to get our heads around a T20 World Cup that might be postponed for a month, two months, three months, whatever it has to be.”
Finch, who was the part of the closed-door ODI against New Zealand last month, also said that he won’t mind playing cricket without fans if it meant for the game to resume.
He said, “But as long as we can get live sport up and running. Whether that’s with crowds or not, I don’t think that makes any difference to the players. We played one ODI against New Zealand with no crowd (and it) was really strange for the first four or five overs, but then you got into your work.”
Meanwhile, the former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar says his nation could host the T20 World Cup in October if Australia isn’t able to.
The top administrators of all major cricket nations will convene this evening to discuss how world cricket can negotiate a new schedule after original plans were thrown into chaos due to the coronavirus pandemic. A major topic of focus will be the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be played in Australia in October and November, which provides a crucial cash injection into the global game.
But given Australia has put an indefinite ban all non-residents entering the country as part of its plan to tackle the virus, the prospect of all the world’s leading men’s cricketers arriving down under in less than six months is in serious doubt. However, Cricket Australia is exploring options to save the series in the wake of the pandemic which has led to global travel restrictions as well.
