Veteran India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has labeled the upcoming England-West Indies as “a trial series” in the COVID-19 era, saying the success of this series will open the doors for Australia to host the forthcoming scheduled ICC T20 World Cup 2020 in October-November.
Expressing happiness that “cricket is restarting again” with the upcoming series in England against West Indies and Pakistan after the Coronavirus-forced hiatus, Harbhajan said the future will be different since the entire world has been looking different in the last few months due to the outbreak of the COVID-19.
While the future of the T20 World Cup 2020 still hangs in balance with the ICC yet to take any call regarding the same, the veteran cricketer said if England can host cricket matches despite being one of the worst COVID-19 affected countries, then Australia can surely host the showpiece event since the country has been successfully controlling the spread of COVID-19 there.
Harbhajan said at Aaj Tak's show '2020 Salaam Cricket': “This seems like a different world than before. The future will also be different and it will be according to the rules and guidelines that we have now. And it is a very good news that West Indies is in England now, this will be a trial series. If it is successful then it will open the doors for the T20 World Cup as well. It is great news that cricket is restarting again. If England can do it, Australia can do it as well. The virus hasn't spread a lot there. Australia has been successful in controlling the spread of the virus.”
Meanwhile, Suresh Raina agreed with Bhajji, saying the upcoming matches in England will be very crucial in shaping the future of cricket in wake of Coronavirus pandemic.
He added, “We haven't played for 3 months, and now this series... till the time we don't watch this series we won't get to know what to do. We will get used to it once we see what happens in England.”
The two veterans also talked about the positives during the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, as the Punjab lad said, “Coronavirus has taught us a lot. Training can be done at home if we take responsibility. I haven't trained as much in the last 3 months as I used to do during my younger days. I am fitter now than last year.”
Raina signed off by saying, “Fitness levels have increased a lot since Virat started the revolution, as a sportsperson this lockdown has given us the chance to recover from injuries, spend time with the families. And once the cricket resumes the enthusiasm will be back again among players and fans.”
(With India Today Inputs)
