The announcement of the contract list of Cricket Australia players has been put on a hold by at least a month due to the rapidly-increasing COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a report in ‘Sydney Morning Herald’, Cricket Australia had “planned to bring forward the announcement of contracts from May to April this year, in a bid to provide more certainty to the states given the flow-on effect.”

“But that plan has been put on hold for now until the end of April, given the economic uncertainty due to the pandemic,” the report further said. “The Australian Cricketers’ Association agreed to the move.”

The coronavirus outbreak, which has so far taken more than 30,000 lives all over the world, has brought all cricket activities to a standstill with Australia cancelling all of their domestic Sheffield Shield, along with calling of the three-match One Day International series against New Zealand after the first game that took place in an empty stand.

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However, there is a question mark on Australia’s upcoming tour of Bangladesh in June and England in July as well because of the current circumstances. Moreover, the T20 World Cup is also scheduled to be held in Australia in October, while India are scheduled to tour the country to play four Tests, three ODIs and three T20I matches.

On the other hand, The upcoming edition of Indian Premier League 2020 is likely to be cancelled due to the situation surrounding COVID-19, the novel coronavirus pandemic in India, as per the report in The Indian Express. The mega auction, which was scheduled to take place before IPL 2021, will also be postponed by a year. Moreover, the franchises can retain the same squads they have for this year’s league and they will be given an option to pick or drop players as well.