|| CF Correspondent ||

The ever-bustling world of cricket is now at a standstill as every international and domestic competition across the world is either postponed or canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Cricket related media and different organizations are coming up with new imaginative ways of keeping the fans engaged in the game and give the people some solace in this rare barren period as there is no live cricketing action.

The International Cricket Council, the central governing body of the sport, has taken the chief role, by doing something unprecedented, opening up their archives for the fans and showing complete highlights of different classic cricket matches in their Facebook page.

As part of this initiative, the ICC have shown the complete rerun of the 2014 ICC Twenty20 World Cup final match between India and Sri Lanka on Monday and Bangladesh’s historic match against England in the 2015 World Cup on Tuesday on Facebook, on the anniversary of those matches.

The sight of Rubel Hossain uprooting James Anderson’s stumps to send Bangladesh to their maiden World Cup quarter-final and two Lankan legends Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara bidding farewell to T20Is with the trophy in hand was once again enjoyed by millions of fans worldwide.

Apart from that, the ICC is regularly posting trivia and quizzes for the fans to answer and asking them to form their dream XI’s and giving the cricket fanatics some food for thought.

Star Sports, a leading cricket broadcaster, took a leaf out of Cricinfo’s book as they also showed highlights of the India-Pakistan semi-final match on Monday from start to finish.

Star Sports would have been telecasting the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League had the not coronavirus outbreak taken place, but are now showing reruns of classic IPL matches.           

The Cricket Australia website did something truly unique by doing a simulation of the final two one-day international matches between Australia and New Zealand, which got cancelled due to the outbreak, and have uploaded a short highlight package of the matches in their website.

The England and Wales Cricket Board on Monday published an open letter from their Test skipper Joe Root and women’s team captain Heather Knight, where they asked every English cricketer itching to get back onto the field to be patient and adhere to the rules of social distancing for the greater good.

Cricketers around the world are also using their social media handles to engage in some friendly banter with fellow cricketers and spreading awareness of the situation.

English cricketers are challenging each other to do different activities while staying indoors, which included Root showing his guitar skills and pacer Mark Wood dancing on his backyard, both videos uploaded in ECB’s official website.

Bangladesh national stalwarts like Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Tamim Iqbal and Sakib al Hasan are advising people to follow the instruction from the government to stop the spread of the virus.

Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar are seen uploading pictures and videos of their indoor workouts, encouraging others also to exercise to improve their immunity.

Bangladesh national team’s former coach Jamie Siddons has also stepped in by providing cricket coaching through an app during this outbreak.