Chennai: The complete lockdown of country in wake of COVID-19 is perhaps nature’s way of reminding that at times sportspersons take the game too seriously when there are far bigger things in life, according to India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
The novel coronavirus has so far claimed 11 Indian lives along with more than 500 positive cases with global death toll crossing 16,000.
“Right now is the time to find solutions instead of blaming this country or that country. The solution for the time being seems to be social-distancing and patience. Hopefully science finds a breakthrough soon,” Ashwin was quoted as saying by a cricket-specific website.
“There is a lesson in all this: we take the game too seriously. There are far bigger things than the game that can hamper it,” India’s premier spinner added.
Ashwin said that he is not exactly thinking about the game right now even though at times he is missing the tension that comes with competition.
“For a change, despite so much free time on hand, I haven’t thought much about cricket. For once the craving to watch something on TV is not there. I don’t know how this has happened, but it has. I have not gone on ‘YouTube’ looking for old clips either,” the India international informed.
“Nor am I missing the game as such except the rigours and tensions of playing the sport, the pressure of it, just trying to compete. Every day you are looking forward to something. If you go to practice, you are looking forward to, say, the IPL, the TNPL, or club cricket… to some cricket. Tomorrow if I have to turn up at the nets, I don’t know what to look forward to,” added the offie.
But that’s also adds a new perspective, said Ashwin. “There is a freshness to that, to be honest. You don’t have to look forward to anything. Just turn up and enjoy the game. That’s the message I have learned,” Ashwin signed off.
PTI
