Hyderabad: In an ideal world, Australian stars Steve Smith and David Warner would have led Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game on this day, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, all activities have come to a grinding halt.
The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly has admitted that the chances of the 2020 season of the IPL starting any time soon is bleak.
With the number of coronavirus infections and deaths continuing to rise, a number of states around the country have extended the lockdown which was initially supposed to end April 15 — the same date that IPL 2020 was postponed after the BCCI deemed that it would not be possible to start March 29.
But to keep the heat on, both franchises have decided to take on one another in a game of Battleship 4pm, when ideally the T20 match would have also kicked off here.
“MATCHDAY! We take on @SunRisers today in a game of Battleship! Ship Crossed swords. Everyone will have the best seat in the house for this one,” Royals said in a tweet.
“Today would’ve been #SRHvRR under normal circumstances! Instead of cricket, we’re bringing a game of #Battleship on Twitter to keep you all entertained today!” said Sunrisers on their Twitter handle.
The world has come to a standstill due to the coronavirus outbreak and sporting events across the globe have either been cancelled or suspended. Those in position of strength have come together to help the needy in these trying times and Sunrisers were the latest to have donated in the fight against COVID-19 and that saw skipper Warner praise the outfit.
Taking to Twitter, Warner wrote: “Sun TV Group (SunRisers Hyderabad) is donating Rs 10 crore towards Covid-19 relief measures”.
Warner’s teammate Steve Smith on Tuesday said that he was hoping that the IPL is played out at some stage this year rather than getting cancelled due to the pandemic.
“Plenty going on in the world at present, but hopefully we can get an IPL at some stage. The two seasons that I captained the Royals were both half seasons, Shane Watson gave me the captaincy in 2015 and then last year out of the blue I took over at the back end of the season. Looking at having a crack at it full time and the Royals have a pretty good squad,” he had said.
IANS