Mumbai: BCCI president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly revealed Tuesday that he underwent 22 COVID-19 tests in the past four-and-a-half months. The COVID-19 tests were carried out amid Sourav Ganguly trying to navigate his professional commitments amid the raging pandemic. Ganguly was busy in conducting the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE from mid-September to early November.
“I must tell you I have got tested 22 times in the last four-and-a-half months and not been positive even once. I have had cases around me, so that probably forced me to get tested myself,” Ganguly said at a virtual media conference of a hygiene technology brand.”
“I stay with elderly parents. I have travelled to Dubai and in the initial part, I was very worried, not just for me, but the community. You don’t want to spread it to somebody else because people are looking up to you,” he added.
The BCCI president also talked about the much-hyped tour of Australia by the national team. The Indian team completed their quarantine period Tuesday in Sydney. India start their tour of Australia with the first ODI November 27 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“The players are fit and fine, Australia also doesn’t have a very high number of COVID-19 cases. The borders were closed for a while. They are still very, very tight on international travel, you have to do 14 days of hard quarantine. Now the boys are ready to get onto the field,” Ganguly said.
Ganguly said he is immensely proud of his BCCI team for pulling off a successful IPL. He hopes the tournament would be back in India for its next edition. The event was shifted to UAE this year because of the pandemic.
“We had about 400 people staying in the bio-bubble, 30-40 thousand tests have happened over a period of two-and-a-half months to make sure that everyone is safe and healthy,” Ganguly informed.
“…It’s a tournament for India. People spoke about the success of IPL. I told all of them that you must, you have to be in India to see what IPL is to India,” asserted the former India captain.
Talking about resumption of international and domestic cricket in India, Ganguly said he is keeping his fingers crossed.
“Our domestic season will start very shortly. England are touring India for four Test matches, three ODIs and five T20s, it is a lot easier having bi-laterals because the number of people are less,” he said.
“When it gets to eight, nine, 10 teams, then it becomes a bit more difficult. We have to keep assessing the situation. There is a lot of talk about a second wave of COVID-19. “I heard in Mumbai and Delhi, the COVID-19 numbers have gone up. So we have just got to be a bit careful and make sure everything is in order,” Ganguly signed off.
