Australia could have overtaken India in the World Test Championship ahead of the Border-Gavaskar series if Tim Paine’s side would have managed a 2-0 series win over Bangladesh in June but with the coronavirus outbreak forcing a cricket shutdown, the tour is now unlikely to go ahead.
“You don’t have to be Einstein to realise (the Bangladesh tour) is probably unlikely to go ahead, particularly in June. Whether it’s cancelled or pushed back, we’re not quite sure at the moment,” Paine said.
“Some series have been cancelled and whether ones going forward are going to be continually cancelled or we’re going to postpone them (is uncertain) but it’s a couple of Test matches and if at the end of the day we have to miss them, then so be it.”
There is a lot of uncertainty over the rescheduling of the international calendar, especially with the World Test Championship final slated for June 2021.
Paine said they are eager to make the decider and might need to play five successive weeks to complete the World Test Championship.
“… maybe players are going to go through a period where we play five weeks’ cricket (at a stretch) if we can to complete the Test championship. I think all players will be in favour of trying to finish that in any way we can.
“But again if it doesn’t happen as I said there are bigger issues in the world and missing a few Test matches isn’t going to hurt us,” he said
