Postpone the IPL
In wishing not to allow IPL matches to be played in the state, Maharashtra has taken a sensible stand. It is far more important to take all possible containment measures now against the coronavirus before it gets to everywhere. The cricketers may take the best precautions — Indian and South African players were seen wearing masks while flying to Himachal Pradesh for the ODI match in Dharamshala on Thursday — and they have medical teams on standby and thermal scanners, hand sanitisers, and so on. It would, however, be tempting fate to expose spectators in the stands to the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Stadiums full of people sitting in close proximity would be an ideal platform for the runaway pathogen to infect more and more. In fact, the case for putting off IPL Season 13 to later in the year or give it up altogether in 2020 is very strong. After all, the IOC and Tokyo, Japan are contemplating postponing the quadrennial Olympics to the end of the year from the scheduled start of July 24. International sports events, including F1 motor racing and soccer matches, are being held “in camera”. How ridiculous is it to play sport only for a television audience.
The United States is paying the price for not undertaking widespread testing in the early days of the outbreak and cases have leaped three-fold to cross the 1,000 mark. The deadly virus was lurking in the communities and spreading even as asymptomatic carriers were living to normal routines and mingling with people in everyday tasks. “It’s just everywhere already,” declared an infectious disease expert from Seattle.
Touch wood, there hasn’t been a single recorded Covid-19 fatality in India yet. One way to try and keep it like that is to take containment measures rather than mitigation in treating infected persons. To play 38 days of cricket in different cities every day at a time of the pandemic would be the height of lack of concern for public safety. The sport of multimillionaires can afford to wait for a year before enriching them. The people of India are more important.