Sport is irrelevant at the moment, feels Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain believes that sports is irrelevant at the moment and there are far more important things for people to worry about during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The ECB has suspended all professional cricket activities in the country until May 28 due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The COVID-19 outbreak has claimed thousands of lives across the world so far and has brought the entire world to a standstill. It has affected all the major sporting events including the Olympics, which has now been postponed till next year.Ā Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes that in the larger scheme of things, sport is irrelevant at the moment and there are far more important things for people to worry about during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The cricketing world has also been badly affected as all events have either been postponed or cancelled.
"In the wider scheme of things sport is, of course, irrelevant and there are far more important things to worry about at this time, but it's amazing how big a role sport plays in so many lives and we want sport back as soon as possible," said Hussain, as quoted by Times of India.
Cricket boards will be in doldrums with their sporting events being called off due to the widespread novel coronavirus. Reports suggest the BCCI might incur a Rs.10,000 crore loss, if Indian Premier League (IPL) is called off, which looks likely as of now. The lockdown all around the world to withstand the novel coronavirus might also be extended in due course. The former England Captain has urged the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to prioritise lucrative forms of cricket, including The Hundred and international matches, when cricket returns after the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
"If and when cricket does come back this year, it has to prioritise the most popular and lucrative forms of the game, whether that's internationals, T20 Blast or the Hundred, because the game is not well enough off to do anything else.
"If that means the County Championship is put on the back burner, so be it. There will just need to be common sense decisions made to get as much cricket in as possible and to play as late as possible in the summer and even early autumn."
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has decided to suspend all professional cricketing activities till May 28. The ECB said that it has begun modelling a range of options to start the season in June, July or August, with an immediate focus on options for cricket in June, including the three-Test series against West Indies, the T20 Blast and England women's series against India. That, however, seems unlikely given the UK government's assessment that the peak of the pandemic, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives across the world, will only occur in the country in June.