ICC makes match archives available for public viewing to cover up for no live cricket

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has halted all major cricketing events in the world. Due to the highly contagious nature of the disease, governments in several countries have advised their citizens to stay indoors until further announcement. With the cancellation of several bilateral affairs and even the postponement of the much-anticipated Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) season, fans of the game are left at home without the luxury of watching live cricketing action.

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ICC delights fans with free archive footage

In wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the International Cricket Council (ICC) recently opened up its library of classic cricket matches for public viewing through their official broadcasting partners. Fans, who are currently under lockdown due to coronavirus, will now get a chance to relive some of the greatest cricketing moments since 1975. The ICC’s archive will include highlights and ICC films of the matches from various ICC Cricket World Cups, T20 World Cups, ICC Champions Trophy and Under-19 World Cups.

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According to ICC CEO Manu Sawhney, the sports industry is currently facing “unprecedented times”, which makes it important for them to connect with their fans. He added that since there is no live cricket at the moment, the next best thing is to bring back some “magnificent memories” for the fans through matches from the previous ICC events.

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Troubled future of T20 World Cup 2020 and Asia Cup T20

Among the upcoming major ICC events, the T20 World Cup in Australia was the nearest one approaching as it was slated to be played from October 18 till November 15 later this year. Since the ICC previously called for the postponement of all international matches to be played until June, the fate of the matches scheduled after June are expected to be decided later. Even the staging of this year’s Asia Cup T20 looks clouded with the threat of coronavirus and an official announcement is expected to be made on the same.

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IPL 2020 delayed

IPL 2020 was originally intended to launch on March 29 with a match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. Even though the IPL is not an ICC-organised tournament, the upcoming Indian T20 carnival was widely dubbed as an ideal preparation campaign for several cricketers taking part in the T20 World Cup as well. While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) delayed the launch of IPL 2020 by just two-and-a-half weeks, much remains unclear as the threat of coronavirus looms on.

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