State cricket units unsure about resumption

CHENNAI: As sports in India make a start-stop-start return, with the I-League football qualifiers set to mark the restart on Thursday, cricket continues to remain quiet. The BCCI and most of the state units are non-committal on resumption of activities. Barring West Bengal and Uttarakhand, where things have started or are about to start, the rest are in pause mode.

Under the circumstances, the Uttarakhand Cricket Association’s announcement that it will conduct a camp for its players in a bio-secure bubble from October 14 or the Cricket Association of Bengal’s decision to restart training in a staggered manner come across as stray developments. Of the 34 state associations, only a handful have pressed restart. A big majority of them are not sure when they can do that.

“We have written twice to the state government for its SOP on resumption of outdoor sports activities. Unless we get a reply, it’s difficult to say what we are going to do and when,” said Mumbai Cricket Association secretary Sanjay Naik. “Mumbai being the worst-hit city, we don’t want to take chances.” It’s the same in the Central Zone unit of Vidarbha, which comes under the state of Maharashtra. “We are getting nearly 1000 cases in Nagpur everyday. Outdoor sports are still not allowed.

So we have to restrict cricketers to online fitness training. Given that a full-fledged domestic season is unlikely, there is no hurry,” said Vidarbha Cricket Association president Anand Jaiswal. The BCCI’s SOP sent to the state units more than two months ago instructs them to follow guidelines issued by the state governments. Accordingly, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association has opened its facilities for players to use in an individual capacity, rather than conducting activities under its own banner. But in many places, even this is not possible.

“We are waiting for instructions. Other than the senior team and tournaments, we have a lot of programmes for juniors. Cricket-related activities are still not allowed and we will wait until the situation becomes safe for everyone,” said Punjab Cricket Association secretary Puneet Bali. North to South, the situation is hardly different. Cricketers are following online programmes provided by physical trainers or at best having nets on individual initiatives.

Training as part of a conditioning camp with coaches and other members of the support staff is still some time away. “The state government has issued certain guidelines. Our apex council will discuss those before deciding when we restart. As of now, everything is closed and no date has been finalised for the apex council meeting,” said Hyderabad Cricket Association secretary John Manoj. When the Jharkhand State Cricket Association organised an internal T20 tournament last month, there were hopes in certain quarters that it would mark the beginning. As things stand, that remains an isolated incident, with most of the other associations still in the dark.