Australia pacer Kane Richardson, who plies his trade with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), said that he is waiting to hear about what lies ahead after the cash-rich league’s start was postponed from March 29 to April 15 due to the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus.
Richardson said that alongside him the 16 other Australians, who are set to participate in the 13th edition of the IPL, are also waiting eagerly for the next step.
“We’re just waiting to hear,” Richardson told cricket.com.au’s The Unplayable Podcast where he detailed about the quarantine experience he had to undergo after complaining of a sore throat before the first ODI of the Chappell Hadlee series, which now stands cancelled.
“A lot of the blokes have opinions – ‘it’s going to get cancelled’, this and that – but again it can change in a day or a week, so I’ll just sit by the phone and get ready to play for the 15th at the moment – that’s what I’m thinking,” he added.
Richardson had reported a mild sore throat ahead of the first ODI against New Zealand and as a result had to undergo the test for the COVID-19. However, his test result came negative on the very next day.
The 29-year-old even spoke about how the danger of deadly virus has escalated and that the players have been left with nothing much to do but wonder when their next cricket match will be played.
“Even a week ago we were flying back from South Africa and there was no thought of coronavirus at all in the air or when we got back to the airport,” Richardson said.
“It’s hard to believe we’re sitting here at home with everything being cancelled but when you watch the news and see what’s going on in the world, it’s definitely the right call,” he added.
BCCI last week had announced their decision to postpone this year’s IPL before suspending all the domestic fixtures as well. “The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) situation,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah had said in an official statement.