Former Sri Lanka captain & President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Kumar Sangakkara believes it is too early to comment about the future of ICC’s flagship event – T20 World Cup 2020, scheduled to be held in Australia later this year. Sangakkara believes that questions linger around the Coronavirus pandemic that can only be answered by the top experts in the world.
T20 World Cup has been a matter of hot debate with some calling for it to be postponed to 2022 with an eye on the COVID-19 crisis while others feel that a ‘wait and watch’ policy should be adapted. The 42-year-old believes planning any tournament in the future would require taking those doubts into consideration.
“The real thing is what’s going to happen with the virus. Is it going to disappear like SARS and MERS, or is this something that’s going to come back seasonally? Will we have to live with this particular virus or different strains of it from time to time or do we have to live with it long term,” Sangakkara said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
“If that’s the case, then some of the changes that we have seen in our lives now, maybe the new normal for us for a few years until a vaccine is found or until there’s enough immunity globally among the people to withstand this. So, those are really questions that I don’t think anyone can answer at the moment.
“We will get more clarity as time goes by. So, I can imagine sitting around a table for the ICC, trying to understand, consulting with experts to understand what’s going on. And more so, the questions that a lot of us have in our minds have still not been answered by the top most experts in the world.
Sangakkara said that at the moment all of the options are on the table ranging from – postponing the tournament, cancelling it or holding it with every possible precautionary measure in place.
“Everyday, there are new learnings, new things being found out, so we will have to wait and see, but the options may be to cancel it this year, postpone it to another year, but to have in place anticipatory procedures that take into account health and safety of both the players and the spectators, and make sure that’s iron clad.”
Cricket Connected airs every Saturday & Sunday at 7 PM & 9 PM IST on the Star Sports network and Disney+ Hotstar.
The upcoming episode will see a gala panel involving Sangakkara, Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa & Irfan Pathan, who will deliberate on pressing issues in the world of cricket during COVID-19 times.