How the cricket calendar could be affected by Covid-19

The world's sporting calendar has been shredded by the outbreak of coronavirus in a year in which several multi-national events are scheduled to take place. The cricketing world is also reeling because of the crisis as all international bilateral series has been suspended while national T20 leagues have been called off or pushed back for the time being. Let's take a look at what major cricket event were affected and could still be affected in the coming months.

Due to the pandemic, India's three-match ODI series against South Africa was rescheduled after the first match was washed out in Dharamshala. During the same time, Australia's ODI series against New Zealand was halted after the Aussies had clinched the first ODI in Sydney by 71 runs. England, who were on their two-match Test series in Sri Lanka, left the tour during the second practice match due Coronavirus threat.

The knockout stage of the Pakistan Super League was suspended while start date of Indian Premier League was pushed back to April 15 from March 29. Apart from these major events in the calendar, coronavirus could still affect a lot of big series and tournaments in the coming months.

In the World Test Championships, England are scheduled to take on West Indies and Pakistan respectively in June and July while West Indies and South Africa are also locking horns at the same time. The aforementioned series is followed by Bangladesh hosting Sri Lanka and New Zealand till August the latter is then scheduled welcome West Indies at home in November.

Up comes the big one as India travel to Australia in December while New Zealand host Pakistan. The maiden edition of the ODI League, which starts May 1, in all likelihood is on track to be affected. This 13-team tournament is supposed to act as a qualification round for ICC World Cup 2023. Asia Cup, which is to be held in September, is also in line to be affected if things fail to improve. The six-team tournament will once again pit Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka against each other.

The biggest event in the cricket calendar this year is the ICC T20 World Cup that is scheduled to be held in Australia from October 18 to November 15. West Indies will defend their crown in this 16-team extravaganza.