Former Australia captain Allan Border on Tuesday said he couldn’t even imagine the prospect of this year’s Twenty20 World Cup staged in empty stadiums.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has prompted travel restrictions and quarantine periods across countries, has created doubts over the format’s flagship tournament, which is scheduled to begin in Geelong on October 18.

The Australian government has currently sealed its border till September 30 to deal with the global health crisis, while there is also speculation that Cricket Australia may be forced to conduct matches in empty stadiums.

But Border is not at all a fan of such a concept.

“I just can’t imagine playing at empty stadiums. It defies belief,” he told Fox Sports News.

“Having teams, support staff and everyone else associated with the game wandering around the country, playing games of cricket, but you can’t let people into the grounds. I just can’t see it happening.

“It’s either you play it and everyone just gets on with the job and we’re past this pandemic. Or it just has to be cancelled and you try to fit it in somewhere else,” said Border, who led Australia to their first 50-over World Cup triumph in 1987.

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell too had expressed similar sentiments on the weekend.

“It’s going to be hard for us to justify having a World Cup when we can’t get people into the grounds,” Maxwell told ABC Grandstand.

“So I can’t see it happening in the near future.”