Players & everyone else need to live with this virus: Gautam Gambhir

Mumbai, May 10:  Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir said that players will have to "live with" the coronavirus for the foreseeable future. The outbreak of the pandemic put a full stop on the cricketing calendar this year around the world with a number of international series postponed or cancelled.

It has prompted discussions on rule changes that might be needed once cricket returns, especially on the practice of using saliva to shine the ball. "I don't think a lot of rules and regulations will be changed, you can probably have an alternative for the usage of saliva -- apart from that I don't think so many changes will happen," said Gambhir on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

"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. Players might end up catching it, and you got to live with it."

Gambhir said social distancing may be easier in cricket compared to other sports. "Social distancing and other rules may not be easy for any sport to maintain. You can still manage to do it with cricket, but how will you do it in football, hockey and other sports as well. So, I think you just have to live with it, probably the sooner you accept it, the better it is," he said.