Ravi Shastri wants bilateral series to be preferred over World Cup when cricket resumes

India head coach Ravi Shastri has come out with an opinion that everyone should focus on bringing domestic cricket back to normal before going for any international tournament once things return to normalcy. Moreover, he gave weightage to playing bilateral series instead of the World Cup in the post-pandemic era.

At the moment, associations have either postponed or cancelled the tournaments for an indefinite period. Recently, BCCI also suspended the 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) until further notice amid global pandemic. The cricket boards have suffered big financial hit due to the novel virus outbreak. And, they are eagerly waiting for the normalcy to resume in order to cover all their losses.

In an interview, Ravi Shastri said that he will not prefer any type of global cricket event in the near future. He added that the first focus should be to bring back domestic cricket in the country back on track. As per him, it is one of the most important things to do once everything comes to a normal state.

Ravi Shastri feels it is safer for one team to fly instead of 15

The former player also recited that he will give weightage to playing bilateral series instead of the World Cup. According to him, it will be a safer idea to play cricket on a couple of grounds rather than playing a multi-team tournament. “I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on world events right now. 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,” Ravi Shastri was quoted as saying by Times of India.

Meanwhile, England players are reportedly preparing to train from next week and are likely to host Pakistan for the Test series behind closed doors. It remains to be seen how things are handled going forward.