Playing cricket in empty stadium like marriage without bride: Akhtar

“Playing cricket in the empty stadiums may be viable and durable for cricket boards. But I do not think we can market this,” said Akhtar

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes playing cricket before empty stands would be without much excitement and something difficult to market.

Shoaib Akhtar (Yogen Shah)

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many sports have resumed behind closed doors and cricket is also supposed to be played like that in the near future so as to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.

“Playing cricket in the empty stadiums may be viable and durable for cricket boards. But I do not think we can market this. Playing cricket in an empty stadium is like marriage without a bride. We need crowds to play games. I hope the corona situation will be normalized within a year,” Akhtar told Helo Live session.

Earlier, India skipper Virat Kohli had also said that it would be difficult to re-create the magic and the excitement of playing in a packed stadium while playing behind closed doors.