Days after suggesting Ind-Pak ODIs, Akhtar now insists he 'can't see cricket being played for another year'

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Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, a few days back, irked many by proposing an India-Pakistan bilateral series to raise funds in the fight against the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The former pacer has now took a u-turn and insisted that he doesn't see cricketing activities taking place for the next year.

"If you ask me honestly, I don't know for how long the coronavirus outbreak will last, until and unless it is not known that how many people are infected, one cannot go ahead with any kind of cricket anywhere," Akhtar said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.

"I do not see cricket being played for at least a year due to the coronavirus. I see the virus troubling us for one year, these are troublesome times and I just hope we come out of this stronger," he added.

Akhtar, who was one of the most ferocious bowlers of his era suggested that use of saliva for shining the cricket ball should not be allowed so as to stop the spread of the virus.

"I don't think that one can apply saliva on the ball now, we as bowlers apply saliva on the ball to make the ball shinier, the ball goes in the hands of everyone on the park, I saw a report of the ICC which said bowlers would not be able to apply saliva on the ball, Akhtar said.

"Cricket is a game which requires contact, if ICC is thinking about passing the law related to applying saliva on the ball, then I welcome the decision keeping coronavirus in mind," he added.

The 44-year-old Akhtar had recently proposed an India-Pakistan bilateral series to raise funds in the fight against the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

"In this time of crisis, I want to propose a three-match series in which for the first time, the people of neither country would be upset at the outcome of the games," Akhtar told PTI from Islamabad.