The resumption of sport will lift morale for people around the world during the Covid-19 crisis and cricketers owe it to fans to play behind closed doors if that hastens the process, former England captain Kevin Pietersen has said.

The spread of novel coronavirus has brought sport across the world to a standstill over the last two months and Pietersen thinks every effort should be made to resume professional cricket as soon as it is safe to do so.

“Fans, the public, need a morale boost. Their morale at the moment is so negative, so down in the dumps,” he said.

“Sport is so uplifting and so positive for so many people. New sport will have to be played behind closed doors until we find a vaccination for coronavirus. Sportsmen have got to deal with it.”

With golfer Rory McIlroy preparing to play a charity event on May 17 and English Premier League plotting a return for mid-June, Pietersen finds it unfathomable that any top athlete would not want to be plying their trade as soon as possible. “Some sportsmen are in the prime of their life. Why would they not want to be playing?” he added.

“So what if the crowds are not there? The crowds may not be there in person but the broadcasting numbers will be massive.”

Gambhir’s take

Gautam Gambhir doesn’t see major changes in the way cricket is played in the post Covid-19 scenario besides the ban on using saliva on the ball.

“I don’t think a lot of rules and regulations will be changed, you can probably have an alternate for the usage of saliva – apart from that I don’t think so many changes will happen,” Gambhir told Star Sports.

“Players and everyone else need to live with this virus; probably they have to get used to it that there is a virus and that it will be around.”