Australian great Allan Border believes the upcoming men’s T20 World Cup, under a cloud of doubt due to the Covid-19 pandemic, should be cancelled or postponed than be played in empty stadiums.
“I just can’t imagine playing at empty stadiums … it defies belief,” Border was quoted as saying by Fox Sports News. “Having teams, support staff and everyone else associated with the game wandering around the country, playing games of cricket, but you can’t let people into the grounds. I just can’t see it happening.”
Just like the women’s edition that concluded in March, the men’s T20 World Cup is scheduled to be held in Australia, from October 18 to November 15. With international travel restrictions currently in order, and the effects of the pandemic expected expected to last a while longer, hosting the tournament in its original form appears unlikely.
“I’d love for that [T20 World Cup] to happen in a perfect world and if I was to be really greedy, I’d love for the IPL to happen as well."https://t.co/WBcyEL8lTk
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 3, 2020
Border, however, feels that playing a high-profile tournament such as the T20 World Cup behind closed doors is not a feasible answer. “It’s either you play it, and everyone just gets on with the job and we’re past this pandemic,” he said. “Or it just has to be cancelled and you try to fit it in somewhere else.”
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Border’s words echoed the opinion of all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who recently said that a tournament such as the Indian Premier League — also put on hold for the time being — could take place without crowds, but that he couldn’t “see the T20 World Cup surviving without any people there”.
