India head coach Ravi Shastri wants the focus to be on domestic cricket, bilateral series and the Indian Premier League when the game restarts after the hiatus enforced by coronavirus pandemic.
The former India captain said that events like World Cup should not be the priority in the immediate future.
“I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on world events right now,” Shastri told the Times of India.
“Stay at home, ensure domestic cricket comes back to normal, cricketers at all levels – international, First Class, etc – all get back on the field. That’s the most important bit. Second: Start with bilateral cricket. If we [India] had to choose between hosting a World Cup and a bilateral tour, obviously, we’d settle for the bilateral. Instead of 15 teams flying in, we’d settle for one team flying in and playing an entire bilateral series at one or two grounds.”
International cricket has taken a hit during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown around the world with question marks over upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia. IPL has been indefinitely suspended, while the inaugural edition of The Hundred in England and Wales has been pushed back by a year. Pakistan Super League was also suspended before completion.
Many international players make the majority of their salaries in franchise-based cricket, while the IPL draws massive crowds and is estimated to generate more than $11 billion a year for the Indian economy. However, there have been suggestions from a couple of franchises that IPL can happen without foreign players.
The IPL was originally scheduled to start on March 29, was delayed until April 15, and has now been postponed indefinitely after the Indian government extended the country’s lockdown.
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“When cricket resumes, we could give the IPL a priority. The difference between an international tournament and the IPL is that the IPL can be played between one or two cities and the logistics will be easier to manage. The same thing with bilaterals – it’ll be easier for us to tour one country and play there at specific grounds than 15-16 teams flying in during these times. The International Cricket Council needs to look at this objectively,” Shastri said.
With no cricketing action since March due to Covid-19, governments have started looking at ways to relax lockdown rules for sport to resume. Bundesliga is the first major sporting event scheduled to return while England is drafting plans to make cricket happen in the summer again.
England and Wales Cricket Board is now planning to stage a full home international programme starting with a three-Test series against the West Indies, originally, scheduled for June, now set to get underway in July.