Indian cricket head coach Ravi Shastri said that the enforced break due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic might actually be beneficial for the fatigued men’s cricket team. With all international cricket cancelled and the Indian Premier League on hold, Indian cricketers have got an extended period of stay at home.
“I could see from the New Zealand series that the cracks were coming with mental fatigue and fitness. The amount of cricket we have played over the last 10 months was beginning to take its toll,” Shastri told Sky Cricket Podcast.
On their return from New Zealand, India were to play a One day International series against South Africa. But the first match was rained out and the subsequent matches cancelled as coronavirus hit India. The country in currently in the middle of a 21-day lockdown.
“Guys like me and some of the support staff left India on May 23 for the World Cup and have been home for just 10-11 days. Imagine the toll it has taken on players who play all three forms and all the travel involved with that. It has been tough,” he added.
India has had a packed schedule in recent times. The World Cup in England last summer was followed by a tour to West Indies, a series against South Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia at home and then a long tour of New Zealand.
Shastri also said that the Indian team had anticipated the trouble with coronavirus while still in New Zealand and they returned from abroad just in time.
“I think the players knew it was coming, they sensed it in New Zealand. There were apprehensions towards the end of that tour, when flights were coming through Singapore, out of Singapore. By the time we landed [in India], I thought we got out at just the right time.
“There were only two cases in New Zealand at that time, that has rocketed now to 300. The day we landed, that was the first day they were screening and testing people at the airport. So [we came back] just in the nick of the time,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo in the podcast with Rob Key, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton.
The head coach stressed on the importance of safety and said that cricketers had a role to play in the situation through their influence, even if the game is not one everyone’s mind.
“As players, you have a lot of responsibility. That’s why the message is very clear that cricket should be last on everyone’s mind now,” he added.
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