Since starting in China late last year, the Coronavirus pandemic has infected over 422,000 people and killed more than 18,000 across the world, bringing several countries to a virtual standstill.
The crisis has also hit the cricketing world as most of the series and tournaments have been either cancelled or rescheduled.
With most nations going into lockdown and closing borders to contain the spread of virus, it seems that the Future Tour Programmes (FTP) will be tweaked once things get back on track.
As per a report published in PTI, the member nations of the International Cricket Council (ICC) will be engaged in a video conference on Friday (March 27) to discuss contingency plans in the wake of global lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The report also claims that the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia from October 18 and the bilateral Test series which falls under the World Test Championship schedule could be in for a rejig in case the lockdown continues for another two months.
However, one ICC Board member clarified that no decision will be taken during Friday's video conference.
"It's more about an update on contingency planning at this stage. In case of an extreme situation, there should be plan B and C ready. So we board members need to understand the options available," the veteran administrator said.
"Obviously, the situation currently is very serious and COVID-19 and its implications is on agenda. But if you think logically, World T20 is in October and final of World Test Championship is in June, 2021. So we have time and no point in taking any decision in haste. No decisions expected on Friday. It's more of a stock taking," he added.
The Test Championship has been introduced by the ICC to give greater context to the traditional format of the game. It features 9 of the 12 Test-playing nations, each of whom is scheduled to play a Test series against six of the other eight teams. The top two sides are to meet in the final at Lord’s in June 2021.
(With PTI inputs)
