IPL extravaganza goes on as Covid cases soar in Delhi
At a time when Covid-19 continued to devastate the national capital, crematoriums were overwhelmed with bodies piling up, Covid cases touched 30,000, and the death toll rose to over 300 during the last 24 hours, a parallel universe played out in Delhi.
Dressed in shiny, colourful, flashy costumes, and protected by a bio-bubble, the cricketers played two back-to-back IPL matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, renamed as Arun Jaitley Stadium, on Thursday. The IPL matches played were Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals.
The stadium is only 4.5 kilometres away from the Nigambodh Ghat cremation ground.
Reports quoting municipal data indicated that during the last 10 days there were over 1,400 Covid cremations at the Nigambodh Ghat. In the last 48 hours, over 200 bodies were cremated there.
While the nation reeled under the crisis, which apparently is yet to peak, a foreign agency quoted an IPL official saying that “IPL provides a much needed distraction for all from the doom and gloom around us.”
Attempts to contact BCCI vice president Rajiv Shukla failed as he did not respond to messages or calls. Holding the IPL amidst the “gloom and doom” might not appear incongruous for the
authorities concerned, but former Australian Women’s Cricket captain Belinda Clarke said that “if IPL helps India, it should run. If it is hindering recovery efforts, it shouldn’t.”
Former Australian player Adam Gilchrist questioned the appropriateness of holding this glitzy event.
He tweeted: “Best wishes to all India. Frightening Covid numbers. #IPL continues. Inappropriate? Or important distraction each night? Whatever your thoughts, prayers are with you.”
Even as patients in Delhi continued to die owing to lack of oxygen and hospital beds, testing remained abysmally low. Meanwhile, all seemed to be well for the
privileged few. For the players there were ICU on wheel ambulances on standby, IPL check-in counters at the airport, and testing every 48 hours.
While the infection raged across the national capital, a “safe bio-secure environment” was provided for the IPL players.
However, the organisers’ resolve to provide “entertainment” to those gasping for breath seemed to have caused massive outrage on social media.
Sanket Upadhyay, a TV anchor, tweeted: “There would be doctors, medical facilities, and police on duty diverted for these events. @BCCI must ask itself—isn’t it criminal to take the resources away from a city struggling with
Covid?”
Footballer Gary Lineker tweeted, “I love the IPL as any cricket fan but it seems so terribly wrong for it to continue given the Covid catastrophe that’s currently occurring in India.”
Broadcaster Piers Morgan’s tweet read, “IPL should not continue given the horrific Covid crisis in India.” While a Twitterati, Sandhya Lakhsmi, asked: “People are suffering, they are in search of oxygen and beds in hospitals. For whom are you telecasting?”
A tweet supporting the event read, “I am glad for the IPL. It effectively diverts all the people from isolation in my house from their Covid related anxieties.”