'We're in contact with our teams' - Pat Cummins opens up on the fate of IPL 2020 and T20 World Cup amid Coronavirus threat

2020 was supposed to be a huge year for Pat Cummins. The fast-bowler who had established himself as a premier player and also the no.1 Test bowler in the world had an opportunity to show that he was a versatile bowler. He had got a huge IPL contract and with ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the home backyard, Cummins was rearing to go for a great year. But, the outbreak of COVID-19, has put a halt on his plans. Recently, he opened up about the possibility of IPL and the Men’s T20 World Cup 2020.

Pat Cummins said that the good thing is that BCCI hasn’t yet cancelled the IPL 2020 and its obviously on hold for now. The 26-year-old pacer also said that the players are in touch with the franchises and the priority at this moment is to stop the spread of coronavirus. Cummins was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders for a staggering sum of INR 15.5 Crore at the auctions this year. By this, he became the most expensive player at the auction in the history of IPL.

‘T20 World Cup is still six-seven months away’: Pat Cummins

“They obviously haven’t cancelled it (IPL) or anything like that yet. It’s still a bit of a holding pattern,” Pat Cummins said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“We’re in contact with our teams every few days. Obviously, everyone’s still really keen for it to all go ahead but you know the priority is to minimise the risk of (coronavirus) spreading.”

Cummins also said that this time is acting as a break for him which is a good thing. “I don’t expect anything too soon to happen. I mean obviously the preference would be to be over there playing but… I guess the silver lining is that we do get a bit of a break,” said the Australian pacer.

Talking about the T20 World Cup, Cummins said that it still six or seven months away and things could change till that point. Cummins pointed out that India’s tour of Australia is also eight or nine away from now. “The World Cup is still six-seven months away, and the big India tour is still eight-nine months away. Lots of things can change,” Cummins said.

“The T20 World Cup is something we’ve spoken about for the best part of two or three years. The (ODI) World Cup in 2015, that was absolutely a career highlight for me and I wasn’t even playing in the final. I’d love to see that go ahead. That’s probably the big tournament this year for international cricket … I’d love for that to happen in a perfect world and if I was to be really greedy, I’d love for the IPL to happen as well”, the speedster added.