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Bio-Secure Venues A Bit Unrealistic, Impossible For Everyone to do it: Rahul Dravid

ECB and CSA have in recent days revealed their plans of creating a 'bio-bubble' for cricketers and other stakeholders to ensure their well-being.

Batting legend Rahul Dravid has questioned the prospects of plans to create bio-secure environment for cricket to resume amid the coronavirus health crisis.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have in recent days revealed their plans of creating a ‘bio-bubble’ for cricketers and other stakeholders to ensure their well-being.

ECB is planning to host West Indies and Pakistan in the coming months in bio-secure environment while CSA also plans to test such a system should India tour South Africa in August.

But Dravid reckons that even if ECB manages to pull it off, not every board will be able to.

“It is a bit unrealistic to have things at the level the ECB is talking about,” Dravid said during a webinar for YUVA, a non-profit organisation. “Obviously, the ECB is very keen to conduct these series because they have had no other cricket and it is right in the middle of the season. Even if they are potentially able to create a bubble and manage it in that way, I think it will be impossible for everyone to do it with the kind of calendar that we have, with the travelling that you do on tours and the number of people involved.”

For Dravid the way forward for cricket to resume safely is when better medication for COVID-19 is developed.

“All of us are hoping that things will evolve with time and get better once we have better medication. In case of the bio-bubble, you do all the testing, the quarantine and then on day two of the Test match, what if one player tests positive? What happens then? The rules, as they stand now, will see the Public Health Department coming in and putting everyone in quarantine,” he said.

He continued, “So that ends the Test match or the series and that ends all the expenses that were made to get everyone there and create that environment. We’re going to have to work with the Health Department and Government authorities to find out a way in which even if a player tests positive, the whole tournament isn’t cancelled.”

Bundesliga, Germany’s top-flight football competition, has resumed in empty stadiums and Dravid feels that for sportspersons, the experience will be different but they will adjust.

“At a professional level, players will adjust and not let it affect their performances much. A professional, once he or she gets on to the field, has a lot of pride in oneself. So they will find a way to deal with that. But the experience at the end of the day is not going to be the same,” he said

“Players love to perform in front of a crowd, engage with their fans and that adds incredible complexity to a sport. I think that’s what a player will definitely miss. There is a personal self-satisfaction when you perform in front of a large crowd,” he added.

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