Health and safety of every individual shall be the top-most priority at this stage, reiterated former India batsman Yuvraj Singh, saying cricket's resumption can wait till the COVID-19 pandemic isn't fully eradicated. 

The deadly outbreak, since originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year, has infected more than 26 lakh people, claiming 1.8 lakh lives, and forced countries to opt for indefinite lockdowns. 

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For cricket, this has meant the global suspension of all its international and domestic fixtures, with no certainty over when it could possibly be resumed. 

"My personal opinion is that first we need to defend our countries, the world from Coronavirus," Yuvraj said at ‘The Doosra’ podcast on BBC.

"It needs to be completely eradicated or come down 90-95 per cent because if it keeps on increasing the players will be afraid to come out to the path, go to the field, go to the dressing rooms or changing rooms."

One idea being floated around is to conduct games behind closed doors if the pandemic relents gradually, even if not entirely. 

Yuvraj, however, believes that wouldn't still be a safe bet for the players involved. 

"Already as a player, when you are representing you country, club ,you are under a lot of pressure. You don’t want the fear of Coronavirus around you while playing."

"Like when you are putting on your gloves, you are sweating.. you are batting and you want to eat a banana but some other guy is holding the banana and you think 'I don’t want to eat that banana’," added the 2011 World Cup winner. 

"You don’t want those questions in your head while playing. You need to concentrate on the ball etc. That’s my opinion. The world can feel free to discuss on that," he added. 

(Inputs from PTI)