The former Indian cricketer and batting coach of Kinds XI Punjab writes about the mental and emotional toll of living in a bio-secure environment amid the Covid-19 pandemic during the IPL tournament
Cricket, like many other sports, has been played in empty stadiums, without spectators, in 2020. Although this has been initially strange for the players, who have missed the buzz of the crowds, they eventually got accustomed to the new reality
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The biggest adrenaline rush for any sportsperson is to own the stage with the electrifying atmosphere in the stadium adding to the occasion. It was, therefore, frustrating, not just as a former cricketer and now batting coach, but even as a layman who likes going out, to be stuck indoors because of the lockdown. One didn’t know how long this would go on for, before normalcy returned. We are in January—nine months after the lockdown was first imposed—and things are not normal even now. Uncertainty and uneasiness still linger in the air.
Given the precarious situation globally, it was only natural that sporting action came to a halt in early 2020. Wimbledon was cancelled, while the French Open was pushed ahead. The Indian Premier League (IPL), scheduled to be played in April-May, also had to be postponed. And rightly so. All that one could do was wait while the government monitored the ongoing crisis closely.
(This story appears in the 15 January, 2021 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)