Over the last six months, there has been no cricket involving India and the circumstances were unavoidable under which all the leading players from Australia and England are going to miss the first three days of the tournament and the fear of the Covid-19 pandemic has been looming large in the empty stadiums where there will be no spectators, as the 13th Indian Premier League (IPL) is looking for the thing usually guaranteed by it, that is an electrifying start.
If one goes on listening, a story is already told by the numbers. This year’s IPL is expected to crash through the roof as this is going to be an event for the television only. The unique edition is surrounded by a possible question that whether those cricketers who are already in isolation for the last five months will be able to deliver right from the start.
The director of Cricket for Mumbai Indians, Zaheer Khan has said that sports in the modern days have reached the stage where individuals are ready to prepare for any kind of unforeseen scenarios. The former Indian pacer also added that being a professional athlete one has to find a way of keeping that particular mental space where one likes to be in. It varies in every individual and it has to be taken care of by every individual and own that specific individual space. According to him, it is not very difficult, but definitely, it is different from being part of the new normal. One has to just get used to the whole new routine. The preparation mode has changed and one must keep up with it.
A jolt was taken by the Chennai Super Kings as soon as they landed in UAE because of COVID but they are in a much better space now and have settled down going into the tournament. The CEO of CSK Kasi Viswanathan has said that although the practice sessions have been delayed by a week the boys had gone through a good 10 days of practice and everybody is in very good shape and the team is confident about performing well.
The CSK camp also got the good news that Mitchell Santner, Imran Tahir, and Dwayne Bravo are in a six-day quarantine after joining the team already. Viswanathan also added that the team has shaped up well and they are going to be available for the first match while Sam Curran and Josh Hazlewood is going to join after the ODI series.
According to Star, this year IPL is going to crash through the roof being a television-only event.
Gautam Thakar, the CEO of Star Sports, said that fans are starved of cricket and want to see their favorite players in action and new viewership records are on the cards.
Kolkata Knight Riders are very enthusiastic about the season. Other franchises are also gearing for the occasion as the IPL draws near.
