The left-handed opening batsman David Warner believes that the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia will not go ahead as planned due to the coronavirus pandemic.
During an Instagram live session with Indian opener Rohit Sharma, the 33-year-old said, "The T20 World Cup is not going to go ahead I think with all things going on here."
On the other hand, Australia's Sports Minister Richard Colbeck believes that managing crowds will be the biggest hurdle in the T20 World Cup later this year.
The T20 World Cup is slated to be held in Australia in October-November this year. Currently, all sporting action across the world has come to a halt due to the pandemic, and the future of the Men's T20 World Cup also hangs in the balance.
"The issue for the World Cup is not so much the teams as the crowds and that's probably one of the hurdles we really have to consider and probably one that world cricket will look at pretty closely as well," ESPNCricinfo had quoted Colbeck as saying on the radio station SEN.
"We all know the difference in atmosphere when you see a filled stadium versus one that's empty... they will be some of the broader considerations, but in a team, since I'd like to think that we can build some protocols with the cooperation of the sport and the players, that's going to be extremely important, with appropriate quarantine and biosecurity protocols to see if we can make the competition go ahead," he added.
Earlier, the International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Manu Sawhney had said that the elite body will be consulting the Australian government on going ahead with the Men's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia.
The limited-overs World Cup is slated to be played from October 18- November 15 at seven venues across Australia.
( With inputs from ANI )
