'There’s plenty of hand sanitizer in Australian kits' - Australian players to not abandon handshakes amid Coronavirus threat

The rising threat of the deadly coronavirus has caused an alarming situation. The virus which broke out as the flu in the city of Wuhan last year had claimed more than 3500 lives besides infecting close to 1,10,000 pe0ple globally.

In the wake of the alarming situation, major sporting events are being cancelled or postponed for a viable time frame. Cricketing events have been going on at full throttle. In the upcoming days, England will tour Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series,  New Zealand will travel to Australia and vice-versa for a series of white-ball Internationals and South Africa will tour India for three ODIs before the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League takes centre stage.

The Australian cricket team will not be abandoning the usual handshakes during the upcoming rubber against New Zealand, with Head coach Justin Langer stating there are plenty of sanitizers in the Australian kits.

“No, we’ll keep shaking hands… there’s plenty of hand sanitizer in the Australian kits..I’m sure we’ll just keep shaking hands and move on from that.” Australian coach Justin Langer was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Justin Langer says yes to handshakes in the wake of  rising Coronavirus threat

Langer’s clarification comes after the England cricket team announced that they will be employing the fist pump instead of the usual handshakes during their tour of Sri Lanka.

“We are not shaking hands with each other, using instead the well-established fist bump, and we are washing hands regularly and wiping down surfaces using the anti-bacterial wipes and gels we’ve been given in our immunity packs,” Rood had said.

Meanwhile, Australia has just returned from South Africa where they won the T20I series 2-1 before being blanked in the following ODI rubber by 0-3. Langer reckons that a prime reason for the reversal is that the majority of his players- especially senior players- are overcooked after having played non-stop cricket since the last World Cup.

“The truth is we’ve got some weary boys at the moment, particularly our senior players. They play so much cricket and you think about what they’ve done… since we started the World Cup. They’re mentally tough guys but it’s a real challenge for us.” Langer added.

Australia will now host the BlackCaps for a three-match ODI series which starred from March 13 at the SCG.