South Africa’s Director of Cricket and former cricket captain, Graeme Smith, talked about IPL’s postponement while expressing his disappointment with certain players not speaking on the alarming Covid-19 situation during the season.
Smith pointed out that few players were sitting on the fence and not making any noise regarding the terrifying Covid-19 situation in India while the IPL was going on but then the same players had refused to tour South Africa due to Covid-19 fears not long ago. South Africa has recorded far fewer cases than India, yet the Australian team had cancelled its trip, pointing at the health security risk of the players. Smith believes that the behaviour reeked of double standards.
“You see some of those players sitting there at the IPL and not making any noise. Having had experience of things here you do see some things differently, and [you see] a version of double standards. It’s disappointing,”
he said as quoted by Cricbuzz.
The Australian cricket team was supposed to tour South Africa for a three-match Test series in February. However, the series was called off abruptly due to Covid-19 fears that the Australia team felt unsafe for their tour to South Africa. Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa saw the relationship grow bitter a little as the hosts had made all the arrangements for the tour before it was cancelled at the last moment.
The Indian Premier League was also suspended halfway into the tournament on May 4 after multiple Covid-19 cases emerged from four IPL franchises and the ground staff. The Covid-19 has also wreaked havoc in India, with cases scaling up to 4 lakh a day, the most in any country.
Smith said that CSA created some 16 bio-bubbles during the past year but were not given enough credit.
“I think CSA have put on 15 or 16 BSEs this season, and I don’t think enough has been made of the success that we’ve had,”
Smith said.
Former South African captain also asserted that he had spoken to the South African players and they all felt safe. Players felt the bio-secure bubble experience in India for the IPL was a good one. The 11 South Africans, who participated in the league, have already left for Johannesburg.
“In no way would we judge. Having spoken to the players, they felt safe. They felt the BSE was a really good experience in India. They never felt at risk. But that’s the nature of what Covid brings.”
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly on Thursday told The Indian Express that he was unsure how a number of players and support staff contracted the Covid-19 virus inside the IPL bio-bubble.
South Africa’s Director of Cricket also added that the bio-secure bubbles are never full-proof, especially with the extremely dangerous surroundings in India, where the Covid-19 has grappled the whole country.
“Sometimes you can do whatever you want but the BSE [Bio-Secure Environment] – as we’ve said to everyone – is never foolproof. When Covid is raging in your country there’s always a risk. Unfortunately, once it gets inside it’s very difficult to predict what’s going to happen,”
the 40-year-old added.
Smith also appreciated the efforts made by the BCCI to ensure the safe departure for all the South African players, who would be back home by Friday and undergo home quarantine.
“The duty of care (the BCCI has) shown in getting everyone home has been exemplary. From our own players’ perspective it’s been made slightly easier in that our borders aren’t closed and there’s still commercial travel available for them,”
Smith concluded.
