Taylor feels ‘for people of India’
Ross Taylor’s heart is with the people of India as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause chaos in the cricket-loving nation.
Black Caps senior statesman Taylor will sit out the rest of the team’s first pre-England tour training camp at Lincoln, near Christchurch, this week, after an MRI scan confirmed a grade one muscle strain to his left calf.
Taylor suffered the injury on the first day of their camp on Monday after facing just six deliveries in the nets.
He was thankful the ‘‘very mild strain’’ wasn’t as severe as it could have been. The timing also worked in his favour, compared to if he suffered the injury while in England, he said.
The Black Caps, minus their Indian Premier League contingent, depart for England on May 15 and
16, for two tests against England, then the World Test Championship final against India at Southampton on June 18-22.
Talk of the IPL and gruesome Covid-19 situation in India dominated when Taylor spoke about his injury yesterday.
An IPL match between the Brendon McCullum-coached Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore was postponed on Monday after two players tested positive for Covid-19 amid a catastrophic surge of cases in the country.
India had a total of 368,147 new coronavirus cases on Monday, and
3417 deaths, sparking debate about whether the IPL should abandon the tournament.
Taylor, who has regularly toured India for cricket and played for multiple IPL teams, said the Covid-19 situation was sad to see.
‘‘First and foremost you’ve got to feel for the people of India. You see all the footage on TV and things have escalated very quickly,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve been there many a time before and they’re lovely people and love their cricket. Cricket is a sideshow and hopefully they can get on top of this coronavirus ASAP and get back to living a normal life.’’
Taylor had spoken to some of his New Zealand team-mates in India, via the WhatsApp messaging network.
‘‘It’s hard to know until you’re over there [what you’d do].’’
On the health front, Taylor will look to return to batting next week before linking with the test squad ahead of their departure to England next weekend.
Taylor missed the first two ODIs against Bangladesh in March with a left hamstring injury and returned for game three in Wellington, his final match of the home season.
His calf tightened up on Friday while doing rehab work for his hamstring. It didn’t feel any better in the nets on Monday when batting.
‘‘My first few balls didn’t get any better, so obviously a lot of important cricket coming up, it’s best to get to the bottom of what it really is, and I’m just glad I got an MRI [on Monday] and plan accordingly.
‘‘It’s nice it’s happened now and not in three or four weeks’ time.’’