The International Cricket Council (ICC) has its fingers crossed for the T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia later in the year. However, cricketers don’t seem that confident when it comes to the mega event going ahead as per schedule
While speaking to news agency IANS, an ICC official said that no meeting has taken place between the international body and Cricket Australia (CA) over the last week and contingency planning continues.
"There has been no meeting (in the last week) and there is no update. Contingency planning continues," the official said.
But over the last couple of months, the cricketers have made it quite evident that the World T20 might have to be postponed keeping an eye on the magnitude of the event. The cricketers also flagged social distancing issue and said how distancing norms need to be strictly followed in the near future amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
Here’s what cricketers said:
David Warner
Australia opener David Warner shared his thoughts with Rohit Sharma while interacting in an Instagram live chat last week and said: "The ICC World Cup will not go ahead here by the looks of it. It will be difficult to get everyone (16 teams) together."
Aaron Finch
Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch too feels the tournament might have to be delayed. "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 told SEN Radio.
Chris Lynn
Australia batsman Chris Lynn feels that the situation could be a logistical nightmare if the tournament happens as per schedule. "My personal opinion is no," Lynn told Fox Sports.
"Obviously we're praying for it to go ahead but we've just got to play what's in front of us. Having teams come from all over the world is going to be a logistical nightmare.
"Hotels, travel, keeping the teams in the hotels for a number of weeks before the tournament is going to be tough work moving forward," he added.
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) May 6, 2020
Glenn Maxwell
Some other players have also spoken about the fans and how having a T20 World Cup in front of empty stands wouldn't be the best way forward.
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell feels that crowds are an integral part of the showpiece event. "... it's going to be hard for us to have crowds. I think if IPL goes ahead they can probably survive without any crowds, but I can't see the T20 World Cup surviving without any people there," Maxwell told ABC Grandstand.
"It's going to be hard for us to justify having a World Cup when we can't get people into the grounds. So I can't see it happening in the near future. We've got to take care of everyone's health and wellbeing."
Imam-ul-Haq
Pakistan batsman Imam-ul-Haq also said that he would like to have fans around while playing a showpiece event. "I personally feel T20 World Cup, if it happens, should take place with crowds as its charm is something else for players and everyone involved," he pointed.
BCCI
A BCCI official told IANS that opening the games to fans and still being able to maintain social distancing norms could be a major concern for Cricket Australia.
"With the conditioning that everyone is going through at the moment, would the fans want to gather in a stadium at this stage? Or would the tickets of only one out of 10 seats be made available to keep a semblance of social distancing norms in place?" the official enquired.
#OnThisDay in 2010, Australia beat West Indies in a men's #T20WorldCup game by six wickets.
Steve Smith, who won the Player of the Match, returned career-best figures of 3/20 with his leg-spin pic.twitter.com/hMYc3s7Gai
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) May 11, 2020
Here is the list of major sports tournaments that get cancelled or postponed due to coronavirus pandemic:
| Major sports events affected by Coronavirus pandemic | |
| Sports event | Status |
| Tokyo Olympics | Postponed to 2021 |
| Cricket | |
| IPL 2020 | Cancelled till further notice |
| India vs South Africa ODI series | Cancelled |
| Australia vs New Zealand (2nd and 3rd ODI) | Cancelled |
| Pakistan Super League | Suspended |
| England vs Sri Lanka Test series | Cancelled |
| Australia vs Bangladesh Test series | Postponed |
| Pakistan tour of The Netherlands | Postponed |
| Australia tour of England (limited-over cricket) | Postponed |
| West Indies tour of England | Postponed |
| The Hundred (Inaugural edition) | Postponed till 2021 |
| Archery | |
| World Cup in Shanghai | Cancelled |
| Badminton | |
| China masters | Postponed |
| German Open | Cancelled |
| Asian Championships | Suspended |
| India Open | Suspended |
| Swiss Open | Suspended |
| Malaysian Open | Suspended |
| Singapore Open | Suspended |
| Thomas and Uber Cup finals | Postponed from May to Auguts 2020 |
| Tennis | |
| All AITA tournaments | Cancelled |
| BNP Paribas Open | Cancelled |
| Miami Open | Cancelled |
| Monte Carlo Masters | Cancelled |
| French Open | Postponed to Sept 20-OCt 4 |
| Wimbledon 2020 | Cancelled |
| Athletics | |
| World Indoor Championships Nanjing | Postponed to March 2021 |
| Field Hockey | |
| India's tour of Japan (Jr Women's Asia Cup) | Postponed |
| FIH Pro League | Suspended till June |
| Basketball | |
| NBA | Suspended |
| Shooting | |
| New Delhi World Cup | postponed to May 5-12 and June 2-9 |
| Boxing | |
| World Cup in Germany | Cancelled |
| Formula one | |
| Australian GP | Cancelled |
| Bahrain GP | Postponed |
| Vietnamese GP | Postponed |
| Chinese GP | Postponed |
| Monaco GP | Cancelled |
| Azerbaijan GP | Postponed |
| French GP | Cancelled |
| Football | |
| Champions League | Suspended till further notice |
| Europa League | Suspended till further notice |
| EPL and FA Cup | Postponed till April 30 |
| Euro 2020 | Postponed to 2021 |
| Copa America | postponed to 2021 |
| Fifa U-17 Women's World Cup | Postponed |