Sangakkara on T20 World Cup: One option could be to postpone it

Health and safety of players and spectators need to be priorities when deciding the fate of the T20 World Cup, says Sangakkara.

Kumar Sangakkara... “Everyday, there are new learnings, new things being found out, so we will have to wait and see [what the fate of the T20 World Cup will be].”

The ICC could look at postponing the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year, former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has said.

The ICC continues to explore contingency plans amid the raging pandemic before it decides on the fate of the T20 World Cup on June 10.

Speaking on Cricket Connected , a talk show by Star Sports , Sangakkara said: “Everyday, there are new learnings, new things being found out, so we will have to wait and see, but the options may be to cancel [the T20 World Cup] this year, postpone it to another year, but to have in place anticipatory procedures that take into account health and safety of both the players and the spectators, and make sure that’s iron clad.”

Unanswered questions

There were many unanswered questions around the pandemic, Sangakkara pointed out. He said, “The real thing is, what’s going to happen with the virus? Is it going to disappear like SARS and MERS, or is this something that’s going to come back seasonally? Will we have to live with this particular virus or different strains of it from time to time or do we have to live with it long term?”

He added: “If that’s the case, then some of the changes that we have seen in our lives now may be the new normal for us for a few years until a vaccine is found or until there’s enough immunity globally among the people to withstand this. So, those are really questions that I don’t think anyone can answer at the moment. We will get more clarity as time goes by.”

He also said, “So, I can imagine sitting around a table for the ICC, trying to understand, consulting with experts to understand what’s going on. And more so, the questions that a lot of us have in our minds have still not been answered by the top most experts in the world.”