Plenty of hand sanitizers in Aussie kits: Coach Langer insists on handshakes amid coronavirus scare

Amid the ongoing coronavirus scare, Australia coach Justin Langer has insisted that the team would not ditch the handshake tradition as there are enough hand sanitizers available.

Langer's remarks come on the back of England skipper Joe Root's revelation that the Three Lions would not be shaking hands on their tour to Sri Lanka, and would rather opt for fist bumps.

"We'll keep shaking hands. I reckon there's plenty of hand sanitizer in the Australian kits. I'm sure we'll just keep shaking hands and move on from that," cricket.com.au quoted Langer as saying.

When Root was asked why England would be ditching the handshakes during Sri Lanka tour, he replied: "We have been given some really sound and sensible advice from our medical team to help prevent spreading germs and bacteria".

"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 antibacterial wipes and gels we've been given in our immunity packs," he added.

Australia recently lost three-match ODI series against South Africa, and the side would now face New Zealand in three ODIs at home.

"We know we've still got six more games to play and then they've got to go again. We've probably learned the lessons from that in the past as well when the guys are playing all three forms, and playing IPL, how we keep them really sharp," Langer said.

"We know how brilliant our cricketers are but even the best of the best, staying 100 per cent sharp all the time, is really hard to do. They're mentally tough guys but it's a real challenge for us," he added.

Australia and New Zealand will take on each other in the first ODI on Friday, March 13.