After Australia Test skipper Tim Paine spoke about the coronavirus pandemic and how it is bigger than the sport of cricket itself, limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch has gone also left a message regarding the same. Finch made it pretty clear that the travel advisory issued to the Australian team on Tuesday makes the participation of Aussie cricketers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) uncertain.
Notably, the upcoming edition of the IPL has already been postponed to 15 April and Finch, who has been signed by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), claims that it is difficult to plan anything given how things are at the moment.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Finch told SEN as quoted by IANS.
“That (travel advice) has changed over the last couple of hours. That could change in two weeks or three weeks, it’s hard to plan anything. But it’s just about making sure everyone around you personally is safe and you’re doing everything you can to stop the spread,” he said.
Earlier, Cricket Australia’s Twitter handle had shared a video featuring Tim Paine. The Australian test skipper shared his thoughts regarding the coronavirus pandemic in that video.
“I realise it’s tough but it’s something we should all take very seriously. I would love to be playing for Tasmania right now in the hunt for the Sheffield Shield final and there’s no doubt our Australian men’s team would love to be in Hobart trying to win back the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. Certainly, our female world champion team would love to be in South Africa,” he said.
“But we are not and for a very, very good reason. As hard as it is for all cricketers at the moment, I think it is time we take a break. I know it’s even harder this time of the year when you’ve got finals and trophies on the line and it’s all there to be won but this is bigger than us, bigger than the game of cricket. I hope we all go back to playing the game that we love and going about our lives the way we want to as soon as possible but in the meantime, please take care of yourselves, take care of others and lets ride this out together. All the best,” he added.
(With inputs from IANS)