The 13th edition of Indian Premier League is being played in the United Arab Emirates.

Apart from the fact that the tournament is happening entirely away from India only for the second time, it is also being played in a bio-secure bubble. Cricketers are used to spending away from families, of course, but to do so in the times of a pandemic must be especially hard.

Therefore, when the Delhi Capitals players and staff were called in for a meeting by their chairman and instead shown messages from their families, the joy on their faces was evident.

Head coach Ricky Ponting said:

“You know this is an unusual tournament this time around... the fact that we’re away from home for three months and whatever we can do, I think to bring ourselves closer to home and just be reminded of the sacrifices that we make but also the sacrifices that our families make to allow us to be here. I think if we can think of that every day then I don’t think we’ll ever take a single day for granted.

“Just looking back at what’s happened the last couple of days with a good friend of mine passing, I think it is times like this that we need to just sit back have a think about how lucky we are to be doing what we’re doing and think about the sacrifices that people close to us make to allow us to do what we love doing.”