Cricket Australia to take most effective ways to host India
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|| Desk Report ||
Cricket Australia [CA] and the Board of Control for Cricket in India [BCCI] are working together on finding the most effective ways to deliver India's Test tour later this year. The two boards may consider their four-match Test series into a five-game contest as they are looking for ways to compensate for the financial losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Australia will host India for T20 tri-series in October and is scheduled to end with a four-match Test series in December. Where the T20 World Cup is scheduled to start on 18 October, but the future of the mega event is also shrouded in uncertainty due to the global health crisis.
"If you contemplate the prospect of the international season, in particular, being affected, we have an issue of hundreds of millions of dollars on our hands," CA CEO, Kevin Roberts said to media on Tuesday 21 April,
CA Chief Executive Officer Kevin Roberts has also assured that they will not rule out the series against India, even if they have to play in empty stands they will make sure to do it.
"So it's very important that ... we do everything possible to stage the season. Whether or not there are people at the venue. We'll explore all viable options, many of which wouldn't have been contemplated until now. We are in a different world where all of a sudden we're being grateful for what we have rather than lament about things that we don't." Kevin Roberts said to media.
"Fortunately we have a bit of time to work through the different scenarios for the India series but we aren't ruling out any possibility for that at this point in time," Roberts added.
Kevin Roberts also hinted that they might host the T20 World Cup without any fans.
"We might not generate financial returns from that event that are as significant as the international cricket season (in Australia)," Roberts said.
"But what we do know is that the bigger returns from the broadcast rights around the event that are generated by the ICC are very important to all of our counterparts around the cricket world."
"So it's incumbent on us to do everything possible to stage and host the T20 World Cup." CEO of CA added.
With the coronavirus outbreak halting all cricketing action, CA has laid off 80 per cent of its staff for the rest of the financial year which ends on June 30.
Reports said that one of the giant board may run out of cash by August.
"On one level, cricket is fortunate in terms of the time of year when the coronavirus situation hit. On another level, cricket is unfortunate in that it has hit us at the lowest point of our four-year cash cycle," Roberts said.
"...we're estimating that we have taken a USD 20m impact thus far. And we have to anticipate, given the unknown and fast-moving nature of this situation, that there will be more risks than that USD 20 million," he concluded.
