"I stay with elderly parents and I have travelled to Dubai and in the initial part, I was very worried, not just for me, but the community", said Ganguly. (Instagram: @SouravGanguly)BCCI President and former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday said that he underwent as many as 22 COVID-19 tests in the past four and a half months in order to carry out his professional duties during the coronavirus pandemic.
Busy with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Dubai from September to November, Ganguly said that he has had positive cases around him which forced him to get a fresh test each time but he never tested positive himself.
Speaking in a virtual media conference, Ganguly said, “I must tell you I have got tested 22 times in the last four and 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.
“I stay with elderly parents and 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.
On strict bio-bubble rules during the IPL, Ganguly said, “We had about 400 people staying in the bio-bubble, 30-40 thousand tests have happened over a period of two and half months to make sure that everyone is safe and healthy. 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.”
Speaking on the upcoming series against Australia starting on November 27, Ganguly said, “The players are fit and fine, Australia also doesn’t have a very high number of COVID 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, so the boys are ready to get onto the field.”