Amid the global COVID-19 crisis, Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell has said that IPL 2020 can be staged behind closed doors but it will be difficult to justify conducting the upcoming T20 World Cup without fans cheering from the stands.

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Both the events are uncertain at the moment with the rapidly increasing cases of Coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives globally.

As of now, there are two options – organising the IPL 13 in September and early October before the T20 World Cup down under or holding it at the expense of the T20 World Cup if the ICC, Cricket Australia and other stakeholders agree.

There have also been talks of conducting the tournaments behind closed doors. But Maxwell reckons if crowds weren’t possible for either of the two competitions then IPL would be a better option to go ahead.

“... 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.”

As the Indian government likely to extend the official 21-day lockdown imposed in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, it seems certain that the 13th edition of IPL will now be postponed indefinitely. IPL 2020 was rescheduled from March 29 to April 15 last month due to growing COVID-19 cases.

Given that Australia has sealed its borders for the next six months because of the deadly virus, the ICC T20 World Cup might also get postponed. As of now, the marquee event is scheduled to be played from October 18 to November 15.

(With PTI inputs)