The Coronavirus pandemic has put a halt on all cricketing activities all around the world. The Indian Premier League has been postponed indefinitely, while many bilateral series have also fallen victim to this disease.
However, despite this, Cricket Australia is mulling a way to make up for the losses it has occurred so far. This entails a possibility of a five-match Test series against India next summer when the pandemic might die out. Australia is also pushing ahead with plans to stage the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup, which is slated to run Oct. 18 to Nov. 15.
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"If you contemplate the prospect of the international season, in particular, being affected, we have an issue of (losing revenue of) hundreds of millions of dollars on our hands. We’ll be doing everything possible to launch and stage a season in 2020-21,” Kevin Roberts said.
Australia has enforced strict bans on border and travel, including bans on international visitors, with all sports league on hold at the moment.
The last major sporting event Australia saw was the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup which the hosts won by defeating India in the finals in front of more than 86,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 8.
The last time India and Australia played a five-match Test series was in 1991-92 and since then it has either been a three-match or in recent times, four-match affairs between two of the most successful teams in the world cricket. India beat Australia 2-1 the last time these two teams met in Australia to register their maiden Test series win down under.
Roberts pointed out that both CA and BCCI share a strong relationship and are committed to playing five-match Test series going forward in the future.
"We won't rule anything out in terms of the Indian series. Along with the BCCI and Indian players, we want to stage a series that inspires the cricket world, whether or not there are people in the stands. We need to face all possibilities. Fortunately, we have a little bit of time to work out scenarios,” he said.
(AP inputs)
