Australia opener David Warner thinks it’s unlikely that the T20 World Cup will be staged in his country because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
All sporting activity has come to a halt due to the health crisis and there are serious doubts over the future of T20 World Cup, scheduled for October-November this year.
“The ICC World Cup will not go ahead here by the looks of it. It will be difficult to get everyone [16 teams] together,” said Warner in an Instagram live session with India’s limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma.
However, the International Cricket Council is yet to take the final call on the T20 showpiece event. During the chat, Rohit said India’s tour of Australia will be a great way to restart international calendar.
“I love playing against Australia. When we won last time, it was great for us. You guys [Warner and Steve Smith] were missing.
“What our bowlers and batters did there was amazing. I am looking forward to the upcoming tour already. Hope both boards manage to get the series underway. Will be a great way to kick off cricket in the world,” Rohit said.
“IPL is likely to happen at some stage but I don’t know when. But I hope the Australia series takes place, whether it is January or February. We love coming to Australia. We love the contest with you guys. You know that nothing comes easy when you land Down Under,” the Indian opener added.
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Warner revealed that he was feeling helpless watching his team lose to India last year.
“Watching that series was hard as you can’t do anything from the outside. But I want to say that India has the best pace attack against left-handers. They zero in one spot and keep bowling there. The first three months, I didn’t pick up a cricket bat. It was a time just to sit back and enjoy with family. We usually don’t breaks. I thought it would be decent to play in Canada and play in the Bangladesh Premier League. I did keep up with my fitness regime.
“Mentally, it was great for Indian cricket but it was hard to watch. I felt helpless. Hope it does happen and looking forward to the battle,” said Warner.
The Australian said playing India in India is one of the toughest challenges in world cricket. “I love playing India in India. Everyone is against you. Hard conditions. Same for you [Rohit] when you come here,” he said.
Warner is also not enthused by the idea of playing in front of empty stands, like Australia did against New Zealand in Sydney in March before the ODI series was called off.
“It was a bizarre experience. You could only hear echo of cricket ball. It was bizarre. We are used to calling ‘yes and no’ while running between wickets but we did not need to do that. It was literally like playing a warm up game. It was surreal. I don’t know for how long you can sustain that. You gain your momentum from home crowd.”
Rohit, meanwhile, joked about his opener partner Shikhar Dhawan’s reluctance to take strike on the first ball.
“He doesn’t like to face the first ball. I remember the 2013 Champions Trophy game against South Africa. I had just started opening and he was a regular opener. And you had to face the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. I had to face the first ball.”
Rohit added: “Shikhar can be irritating it is great to bat with him. He is such a delight to watch, got so many shots,” said Rohit. I won’t run unless I see the ball going in the gap. I had trouble initially and have told him that. I am not a regular opener that’s why it takes time for me to play my shots. That is the reason I go areial and play cross-batted shots, which has landed me in trouble too.