Cricket has come to a grinding halt due to COVID-19 pandemic as former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar doesn’t see the game resuming anywhere in the world for at least one year.
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Fondly known as the Rawalpindi Express, Akhtar also said until it is known how many people are infected with the Coronavirus, no kind of sport can be played.
"If you ask me honestly, I do not know for how long the coronavirus outbreak will last, until and unless it is not known that how many people are infected, one cannot go ahead with any kind of cricket anywhere," he said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
"I do not see cricket being played for at least a year due to the coronavirus. I see the virus troubling us for one year, these are troublesome times, I just hope we come out of this stronger," the 44-year-old added.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) may look to ban the use of sweat and saliva to shine the cricket ball, as is traditionally and legally practised by players, in order to avoid potential COVID-19 spread whenever the on-field play is safe to resume.
Shoaib also reckons bowlers now won’t be able to apply saliva on the cricket ball to make.
"I do not think that one can apply saliva on the ball now, we as bowlers apply saliva on the ball to make the ball shinier, the ball goes in the hands of everyone on the park, I saw a report of the ICC which said bowlers would not be able to apply saliva on the ball,” Akhtar said.
"Cricket is a game which requires contact, if ICC is thinking about passing the law related to applying saliva on the ball, then I welcome the decision keeping coronavirus in mind," he further remarked.
