Impact of Covid-19 on the Cricket World

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the sporting world. While interest in fantasy sports has risen almost exponentially, thanks to lockdowns and social distancing in most parts of the world, the picture hasn’t been quite as rosy for athletes on the field. The cricket world has been especially affected. Now, instead of just managing workloads, coaches and other staff have to consider a new factor – bio-bubble fatigue. 

Players spend months away from home in bubbles that keep them apart from anyone but their teammates, coaching staff, and immediate families. It’s a monotonous life that involves little more than matches, training, gym, recovery, and team meetings. Those precious days off between games that would allow players to unwind aren’t possible. Some players have even been sent home from tours for breaching the bio-bubble. 

There have been huge consequences in terms of scheduling as well. The Indian T20 League in 2020 couldn’t be played in its usual April-May slot and was hosted by the United Arab Emirates later in the year with infection rates in India still considered too high. In 2021, it started as scheduled in India but was then aborted halfway through as a second Covid wave hit. Again it was the UAE that hosted the second phase of the competition in September-October 2021. 

Though the competition was played to its conclusion, it had quite an impact on the Indian team’s fortunes. As it was, most players had gone into a bio-bubble in February in order to start training for the start of the Indian T20 League. When it was postponed in May when some players and support staff members tested positive for Covid-19, those players needed to isolate themselves and others went right into another bio-bubble in preparation of their journey to England. 

That trip presented a two-fold challenge. First up was the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton. India had topped the table after the two-year qualifying cycle. Logically India should have been able to host the final in conditions of their choosing. After all, that’s how every major sport works. Home-field advantage goes to the team that finishes top of the table. But with India battling the worst wave and most other cricket-playing nations under various kinds of lockdown, the UK was the only plausible venue. 

That played right into New Zealand’s hands. In the early part of the English summer, England conditions mimic those in New Zealand, with overcast and cold days that tilt the balance heavily in favour of the quicker bowlers. This is not to say that New Zealand were not worthy winners – their key players delivered, while India’s didn’t – but there’s little doubt that the conditions played into their hands. 

By the end of the summer, when the days were mostly sunnier and much warmer, India’s players had acclimatized enough to take a 2-1 lead against England in a bilateral Test series. But even there, they couldn’t complete the job, with a Covid outbreak in the camp forcing the 5^th and final Test to be moved to the summer of 2022. 

From there, most of the Indian stars went straight into the IPL bio-bubble in the UAE. By the time that was over, it was time for the T20 World Cup, again a tournament that was supposed to have been hosted by India. Instead, Oman hosted some qualifying games, and the UAE the main rounds of matches. By the time India’s tournament began, with crucial matches against Pakistan and New Zealand, many of the players had been in a bio-bubble for 7 or 8 months. Some hadn’t seen their parents and other loved ones for that long. 

Perhaps, understandably, India played like a side drained of energy and inspiration, exiting the tournament in the group stages for the first time since 2012. There wasn’t even time to process that setback though, with a home series against New Zealand starting days later. Another bio-bubble. From there, Indian players went to South Africa. They began brilliantly, storming the South African fortress at Centurion but then fell away badly to lose the last 2 Tests and all 3 ODIs. The batters were especially culpable, unable to make the sort of first-innings totals essential to succeeding in such conditions. 

But on previous tours where Indian batters had done well, a core group had always traveled earlier so that they’d get more time to get used to the conditions. There was no such preparation this time and it showed in the indifferent performances, especially from the middle order. 

And it’s not as though it’s only Indian cricket that has been impacted either. Perth in Western Australia lost a prized Ashes Test against England – it was subsequently played in Hobart in Tasmania – because the quarantine rules and restrictions there weren’t acceptable to both teams. Other T20 tournaments have been postponed or canceled altogether because of Covid outbreaks. 

Nearly 2 years after the first cases were reported, the cricket world is slowly adjusting to playing in the middle of a pandemic. Another season of the Indian T20 League is likely to be played under restricted conditions, possibly at only one or two venues, and with no crowds. It could be 2023 before we get to see cricket as we used to know it. But even if you can’t make it to the stadiums, you can still download fantasy cricket app and feel more connected to your favorite game. In these challenging times, that’s quite a relief.