No cricket in India in the near future: Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has ruled out any chance of cricket taking place in the near future due to the massive coronavirus pandemic. India is currently under a complete lockdown until May 3, which was earlier extended from April 14.

Amidst the grave global situation, Germany is mulling the start of Bundesliga, their football league, sometime from May. Even as it’s set to resume sporting action globally, Ganguly, who is also a former Indian cricketer, stated that the scenario in India and Germany are different.

“The social reality of Germany and India are different, there will be no cricket in India in the near future. There are too many ifs and buts involved. More importantly, I don’t believe in sport when there is a risk to human life,” Ganguly was quoted as saying in The Times of India (TOI).

Harbhajan Singh echoes Sourav Ganguly’s opinion 

Harbhajan Singh, who flourished under Ganguly in Team India, also reverberated his former skipper’s words. The veteran Punjab off- spinner was of the opinion that top-flight cricket shouldn’t resume till the time a vaccine comes out.

“When IPL teams travel, there’s a huge crowd at the airports, hotels, outside the stadium. How are you going to stop them if you are looking to maintain social distancing? There should be no top-flight cricket till there is a vaccine for Covid-19,” Harbhajan said.

The COVID-19 has put to doubts the future of a number of tournaments globally. Recently, Sunil Gavaskar, the legendary batsman, said that India and Australia could swap hosting rights for the 2020 and 2021 edition of the T20 World Cups.

Earlier this week, the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) was also postponed indefinitely after the lockdown was extended. Talks of conducting the tournament behind closed doors and without foreign cricketers have also been doing the rounds.

However, as per Gavaskar, holding high-profile events like the IPL and the T20 World Cup in empty stands won’t be a walk in the park. “Did you see the crowds during our practice sessions at Chepauk when we said we can’t allow people inside the ground. Lives are at stake, you can’t control Indian crowds that easily. Yes, there will be financial losses, but we have to live with it,” he mentioned.