Should IPL continue with positive cases in teams? Mr Cricket UAE, Anis Sajan, in conversation with Gulf News editors.
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00:00This is definitely a jolt to IPL which has happened, the news which broke out today morning.
00:15Hello, good afternoon. This is Gautam from GARF News. We are back here with a special edition
00:21straight back with Mr. Cricket UAE Ali Sajjad. Along with me is my colleague Shyam Krishna.
00:30Welcome to all of you. We are deeply concerned with something breaking on the field of IPL
00:37where we have heard this morning that two KKL players, Varun Chakraborty and Sandeep
00:43Warrier, they have tested positive. So this is for the first time in living memory that any
00:48match of IPL had to be postponed. So their match against RCB has been postponed and along with that
00:57comes the news that now in Delhi where a fair number of matches are still to be played,
01:04a certain number of ground staff have tested positive, much like what happened in Mumbai
01:10before the event was due to begin. Now we are halfway in the middle of the league right now.
01:18Right now matches are being played in Delhi and Ahmedabad before the bandwagon moves to
01:25Kolkata and Bengaluru. Now my first question to Anish will be, what do you think the IPL should
01:33do? Should postponing a match be enough or shouldn't they rush into any panic step? What
01:40should be their step forward? Hello Gautam, hello Shyam and hello all the GARF News community.
01:49Well this is definitely a jolt to IPL which has happened, the news which broke out today morning.
01:56Now when you ask me, should they postpone the match only for one day or should it be taking
02:02a little more time? And I'll be very honest and upfront, they have to ensure that the IPL
02:09doesn't begin at least or it's paused for minimum a week. Now the reason I'm saying
02:15for a week is with the way this virus works. You know that today if I come negative, it doesn't
02:22guarantee that I might not come positive after 2-3 days. So in such a scenario, not risking
02:28everybody who are involved in this IPL, whether it is the players or the support staff and so on
02:34who have got tested positive. Everybody has to be done three tests before they start the IPL. Now
02:39when suppose we pause it for a week, you might think how are we going to get the matches done?
02:45That's the only simple formula is that they'll have to play double headers and get it done. But
02:50if you want to save the IPL and to continue without any headaches and just to ensure that
02:58you know India is not dented with another headache of this IPL because you know already people are
03:04talking about the World Cup has to be shifted. I'm sure Sourav Gangulyan, his team and Mr. Amin
03:09would make sure that everything is taken into place before the next match is called. They cannot
03:14do the mistake what the PSL did that they made a match played in spite of the players getting
03:19positive. So Shyam, I'll come to you. We were discussing about it a little while back
03:29what you know the affected team KKR has done. They are now saying that you know their cycle
03:34of testing they're going to do virtually every day. Along with that comes a double jolt as the
03:40news of the ground stuff has come in. I mean, this is something which you normally don't factor
03:45in among the stakeholders. You talk about the players, you talk about the officials, etc.
03:51So what do you think? Because it seems that you know stopping it for about a week so that there
03:58is no ripple effect sounds a practical suggestion provided the further international fixtures or
04:05whatever there which follows because it's such a tight window. That is the only
04:12area of concern but these are extraordinary circumstances. So what do you feel Shyam?
04:19I mean, do you think that can be a way ahead? What you said is absolutely true here
04:24because these are extraordinary circumstances and extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary
04:29measures. One extraordinary measure is suggested by Aniz is playing double headers after
04:36taking a pause but I get the feeling that a one week's pause may not help. We might be in at least
04:43two weeks because if you look at it's not just the players. We have already heard that
04:50Chakraborty and Sandeep Warrior in Kolkata Knight Riders have been affected but there is also
04:57news that Pat Cummins is in isolation. So we still haven't got the full extent of the news
05:04because unless more testing and more because they want to avoid false positives. So they
05:08definitely have more rounds of testing. So we would know that only the full extent of
05:14the problem a little later. Now it's not just KKR. If you look at CSK, CSK also have problem.
05:21They have a CEO Kashi Vishwanath is affected. The bowling coach Balaji is affected. These are
05:28people who are in contact with players. So which means the players have to be tested and we still
05:33haven't got the results of the players whether it's positive or negative. So which means
05:38that is again another question mark which is lingering. Then the ground staff, see I don't
05:45know how much of the ground staff is part of the bio bubble but I would believe that they should
05:52and would be the part of the bubble. But if five people of the ground staff have contracted
05:58COVID and you have to remember the fact that Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad played a
06:04match there and I mean they would have definitely come in contact with some of the players. So
06:09which means you have to test the entire squad of Rajasthan Royals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
06:14So when do you get some clarity on this? It's not a day speak.
06:21According to the COVID virus cycle, it will take at least a week to get a
06:28clarity on that. So I am looking at something like a fortnight's break before they resume
06:35if they really want to resume. But like we said earlier, they would rather finish it because
06:40having started it and having crossed the halfway stage, they would finish it but it will need
06:46extraordinary measures. Yes, you see the problem is when the IPL was being held in the UAE.
06:54I mean that time before the matches started there were a number of cases but
06:59the difference is at that point we were at a stage where we could have done some kind of
07:05contact tracing. I remember with the Chennai players and officials, it was being
07:13spoken about that they had an unscheduled camp of about three to four days in Chennai before they
07:18took off for the UAE and that's where this problem happened. But here it's now
07:25it's no longer a secret that we are having a kind of community transmission here
07:31so where despite this watertight bubble where there are a lot of contingency
07:39plans in place like if from what I heard from Usham that somebody like Varun Chakravarty,
07:47he contacted the virus apparently when he was taken to the hospital for a scan.
07:52Now, the kind of paraphernalia that they have set up the moment a guy is going
07:59out of the bubble be it a player or anybody, this kind of a complicated step-by-step procedure whereby
08:06he's allowed back in to the bubble. But what we saw was Chakravarty was playing matches, he'd been
08:11one of their key players. So we didn't see him being in isolation or being in quarantine
08:18during the tournament. So it's very difficult to get the right picture from here. Now the only
08:25point that again I'll come back to is that if you look at a break of about
08:32seven days or 14 days is with the for overseas professionals. You see, I mean it's been
08:39less than a week where we had an exodus of three Australians then Adam Zampa initially he
08:46went on to criticize the bubble saying that he felt vulnerable but then later though on going back
08:52is now issued a statement that that wasn't the case he was looked after well.
08:56Now in trying to extend the duration of the tournament then if there is a kind of
09:03resentment from the overseas professionals and they say that now they won't be
09:08able to fly back once. So it's a very sensitive situation. So what would be, I mean as I
09:17said that one way is the seven-day pause, the other thing is daily testing. So I come
09:24back to this, I mean what do you think is practical because there is a heavy commitment
09:29to be made. You cannot cut down on the number of venues also at this point that you do the
09:34rest of the matches in Delhi and Ahmedabad and get over with it, you can't do. So what do you
09:42think is the way forward if stopping it for seven days is not possible. With a few players already
09:48going away like Zampa going away, Andrew Tai going away and there's another player who did, a couple
09:53of players who did not turn up. You see, already the fear was there and I remember telling to you
09:59in one of my shows on radio or television, I don't remember is that when you travel
10:03from one city to another city, you are going by a charter flight. However, you are traveling
10:12by a charter flight, you might be in your PE kit but you don't know the air hostess or the people
10:19who are addressing you. Are they in that bubble? If they come in touch with you because today
10:25the virus is so bad in India unfortunately that it can catch either through the air or through just
10:33even if I stand, I don't know how it works but the fact is that it's risking when you go from
10:39venue to venue. Now when you talk about the apprehension in the minds of players, definitely
10:46all the foreign players must have been jolted and I wouldn't be surprised, I wouldn't be surprised
10:53that players panic and press that button that no we want to go back, we are not feeling safe anymore.
11:00So to me, as much as I said in my starting statement that seven days or Shyam said two weeks,
11:06to me foreign players staying back looks to be a bit of a doubt. It might be like a statement which
11:14I'm making but I wouldn't be surprised if foreign players now feel that now this is the time we need
11:18to get out of the bubble, you need to go. Yes but the problem here is like Australia,
11:26if these players today go back, they will be risking a heavy fine. In fact, there is a kind
11:31of jail term which is in place. I heard about it. Yeah because right now Australia is no home.
11:39So this is the kind of situation which is honestly beyond everybody's control. Now
11:45Shyam, I'll come back to you. See this, there is strictly no comparison really because
11:52in PSL, you see they've got a smaller window, they operate within a three-week window.
11:59The IPL operates in a seven-week window, the number of players involved is more.
12:06So and it's an enemy, it's a kind of fighting an invisible enemy. I mean, from
12:14what I've gathered, really the bubble is right from the hotel to the kind of,
12:22there is a kind of template which is now put in place but even then, if players are getting
12:28infected, there are already talk about whether the IPL is
12:35insensitive enough continuing with the games in these times. Right now, you've got an additional
12:42trouble. So can we really bargain for handling these two and continuing with the IPL? I mean,
12:49what are the options do they have? Whether it's insensitive or inappropriate, we have
12:56passed that stage now. If you were sensitive enough that we wouldn't have had the IPL at this time
13:02because now it's not a time to discuss that because now with the IPL halfway stage that
13:07question does not stand, it's not valid anymore. Right now, what can be done about it?
13:14When you said about PSL and IPL, I mean, I think you can't compare both because
13:19both are the sheer magnitude of the events are different. So I wouldn't go near PSL.
13:26I feel like here, I think Anish went to great lengths to explain about the
13:34viable and the possible breach of it. It brings the whole
13:41question of how secure is a viable. To me, even the most secure of stuff that can be achieved there,
13:49if this man-made that can be achieved here which is very much exposed in the
13:55case of Chakravarthy, they say they use the green channel to get there and all.
14:00That's all I think basically papering over the problem. So these kind of things are bound to
14:06be there and I understand even the IPL guys also understand the risk they take but it's
14:12a risk they take because so much is at stake there. So they would ignore such a risk
14:19and when you ignore such a risk, this is what happens. If you look at right now,
14:25I think even in the figures, we are not seeing the magnitude of problem.
14:28See, look at how many teams are affected here. It's KKR, it is CSK, it is Rajasthan Royals,
14:36it is Sunrise Hyderabad, four teams that is half the side is affected. So
14:43is it feasible to continue at this pace? I don't think so. It's not the question of being
14:49or inappropriate, it's a question of common sense.
14:54Yes, by and large there seems to be the gravity of the problem is
15:02slowly descending on us. I'd like to ask Anish here, I mean we have heard this talk about
15:09the T20 World Cup, whether it's going to be shifted from India to the UAE.
15:14Now, in light of what has been happening, ECCI definitely wanted to use the IPL as a kind of
15:23test case because they are due to conduct the T20 World Cup later this year. Now, that is something
15:31which is still about six months away. What would be, I mean as an organizer, what would be
15:39the right step in this case? We come back to the same question. I mean one, play it absolutely safe.
15:47I think a seven-day moratorium on the action to see whether things are okay may be still a
15:53practical one or if required more by talking to all parties concerned by taking the players into
15:59confidence. Right now, the concept of test, test and test which we keep hearing in India,
16:08I mean that seems to be the kind of only way out to restore that element of confidence back
16:13in the players because that's very important. When we see them before the match or after the match,
16:19players are humans, they need to bond and that's all about sport.
16:26If you say that like you can't even hug each other, that was the premise with
16:30which when sports started last year that was the thing that you don't hug, don't do the high-fives
16:36but these things have even come back over a period of time because players are by and large,
16:41they feel they have the sense of security that this is my group, I'm in the bubble, nothing
16:45will happen to me. Once there is a kind of dent in that confidence then can a player
16:53operate at least? That's my question in a team sport. I'll first answer your first
17:00question which you asked me about the India had planned this IPL rather I remember it was a test
17:08to see whether India can pull off the IPL with the World Cup coming in. This definitely is a dent
17:13in India holding the World Cup that there have been cases come out and I should not be using the
17:21word it's not only a dent but probably I feel the ICC would now think twice before handing over
17:32the World Cup to India unless they can turn this around and get this IPL done and
17:39dusted to me which at the moment looks a bit unlikely. Now the second part you mentioned to me
17:45about the players, initially there was a protocol that you just can't even
17:51tap each other's hand, you just need to do fist pumps and now players are even hugging because
17:55they feel that they were secured in the bubble and everything was fine. If you see even the last
18:00IPL and the series which happened in India, the India-England series, it was all taken care in the
18:05bubble because they were staying at one venue because I think the matches happened in Chennai
18:10and Ahmedabad. I think both these series happened in Chennai and Ahmedabad. I think only the last
18:14ODI series happened to my knowledge was in Pune but now with eight teams and four teams are at
18:22one venue and four teams are at other venue and if a mistake by anybody whether it is
18:28a ground staff, whether it is a hotel staff or whether it is a player breaching the bio secure bubble
18:37automatically puts the whole IPL into a problem and that is what has happened this time. I'm afraid
18:43we wouldn't be able to point fingers who has done it as of now we only understand about Varun
18:47Chakravorty's name coming out that he had gone for a scan through the green channel but like you
18:51mentioned that there is a problem with the CSK team also where they have also the ground staff
18:56has tested and not to forget even Balaji's name has come out. So how that has happened? There must
19:02be something that somebody has come in touch with who has breached the bio bubble. So it's now a
19:09catch-22 situation for the BCCI and its organizers how they are going to get out of this jail. I would
19:16use the word jail because this is really hit the IPL like I know there is no comparison between
19:23PSN and IPL but that was actually a learning lesson which IPL should have taken that this
19:29had happened in PSN. They were breach of the bio bubble where they were using the same hotel
19:35where the staffs there were marriages being conducted the players were taking selfie. Okay
19:40all this has not happened here but it could have they could have taken probably a stricter measure
19:44as Mr. Ameen mentioned that no we'll take good care of the players but I'm afraid they have
19:49missed something in it in taking care that is the reason this cases have happened. Otherwise
19:54if you are in a strict bio bubble I don't think you can catch the contact of a virus that's what
20:02I'm trying to say. Yes I mean we can discuss about a lot of things with the benefit of hindsight
20:11you know they were initially when they were planning when they decided that IPL this year
20:16will be held in India initially there was talk that they'll just use the three stadiums available
20:21in Mumbai and along with that maybe use either Pune or Ahmedabad but then as I said that they
20:28wanted to use this as a test case for the T20 World Cup because things were relatively better
20:35by the end of the year. I mean when you know this the panic had died down number of cases had
20:41trickled down to bare minimum for a big country like this but even then the way they have planned
20:48this schedule I mean they call it you know when I was speaking to the star sports chief he said
20:54that they call it a cluster caravan whereby each team and all stakeholders will just
21:01be taking four flights to complete the tournament but in between this we have got
21:07this. So I think you know it is better left to the best wisdom of IPL and along with you know
21:14they should take this Indian government in confidence if need be and find a way without
21:21you know compromising on the health and welfare of the players and all the stakeholders we should
21:28leave a you know blotch on a huge huge brand as this. Thank you Anish for joining me, thank you
21:36Shyam and keeping our fingers crossed on the fate of IPL for now. Thank you so much. Thank you Gautam.
21:42Thank you Gautam but before you go I just wanted to ask you one thing. You are in Calcutta and
21:48there is a venue in Calcutta where they are planning. How are the cases in Calcutta? I mean
21:55can you just inform our viewers that how are the cases like I know Mumbai is going through a bad
22:00time, Delhi is going through a bad time, so is Bangalore but what about Calcutta? Yes, I mean see the next
22:06two legs are in Calcutta and Bangalore and in both places the situation is quite grim.
22:11Calcutta you know they have just kind of got over protracted
22:19state elections where there were a lot of you may have read something you know there have been
22:24charges again that how the election commission could continue such a long election to take
22:30place because you know in India election rallies would mean across the parties
22:35that is a material election rallies would mean people and where there would be flouting of
22:40social distancing norms, so that has been blamed to some extent. So right now what has
22:46happened is Calcutta which is whenever Kolkata Nitride is used to play here you
22:53had a very demanding set of fans here but right now the mood is little low but I'm
23:01sure when the teams come here and the action takes place then it should be lifted to
23:07an extent but talking about the situation it's not good right now we have about you know daily
23:13reported cases are about 16 anywhere between 16 to 17,000. In Calcutta? In West Bengal,
23:21in the state of West Bengal, in Calcutta itself it will be something like two to three thousand a day.
23:28This is what I wanted to know because I know Bangalore is also grim
23:32and so is Ahmedabad. So it looks a bit tough for the IPL organizers but we hope they'll be
23:39able to find some way, we will only come to know with time. It's not just
23:49this cities if you take India in total, it's an average of three million a day, isn't it?
23:56Four lakhs cases a day it's been coming.
23:59No, it's about 400,000. It has come down marginally say about by over 20-25,000
24:06to three lakhs, 60-65,000 that is not saying much. So this trend I mean
24:14as Shami, you know the subject I mean then once it reaches the peak and by the time it
24:21starts coming down. So one has to hope for the best and as far as IPL is concerned,
24:26the positive thing about them is they are not affecting,
24:33they are trying to do things like behind closed doors,
24:40social distancing is maintained, I mean there is no crowd, there is no
24:46media. So that's the best that they can do but now that they're confronted with this situation,
24:51we'll really have to keep our fingers crossed and see what kind of a solution they
24:56have in mind, are we going to see tomorrow's match on schedule but yes, I mean since the teams are
25:03four teams are in two of the venues unlike in the past where teams would be always in
25:09transit. There is always a scope of increasing the number of double headers and doing it
25:15the logistics of the broadcasters and advertisers permitting but these are extraordinary circumstances
25:22so we will hope they'll find a way around this for the tournament to continue.
25:28All right, thanks Gautam. Thanks Shami. Thank you Gautam, thank you Anish. Thank you guys, take care.
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