The coronavirus outbreak has brought almost everything to a standstill and the sports sector is not an exception to it as well. All the sporting events were either cancelled or postponed as the governments of various nations were compelled to impose lockdown due to the increasing number of COVID-19 positive patients. Now the situation is a little bit under control and various sport authorities are looking forward to organize the tournaments while following all the precautions.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa are thinking of starting cricket tournaments by creating a bio-bubble environment. ECB will be hosting West Indies and Pakistan in July-August and for this purpose, it will ask its players to gather at Ageas Bowl on 23rd June 2020. Then they will live in isolation, away from their families, for whole nine weeks, the total period for which they will be playing cricket.
South Africa has also proposed this method for the SA-India series but former Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid feels otherwise. While speaking in a webinar organized in order to support the social service organization YUVA, the former skipper says that he understands why ECB is so eager to organize the cricket tournament as it had no other cricket tournament for a long time but at one fell swoop, he expresses his opinion that he finds it unrealistic.
He also adds that although ECB may be able to create such an environment, it may not be possible for all the cricketing nations considering the fact that a lot of travelling takes place during the tours and many people are involved in the process.
Rahul Dravid further asks what if all the testing and isolation is done but on the second day of a test match, a cricketer tests positive. He questions as to what will happen at that time because as per the rules, everyone will be kept in quarantine then.
There is no denying the fact that huge losses have been suffered by the sports organizations due to the lockdown but it is also true that human lives are more important than anything else in this world. There are good chances that for some time in the near future, all the sporting events will take place without spectators.
What is your opinion regarding organizing tournaments in a bio-bubble environment? What do you feel about Rahul Dravid’s perspective? Let us know your views.
