Former India captain Rahul Dravid feels the real impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic will be seen in Indian cricket in October, especially in domestic cricket.
Cricket has been on a standstill in India since mid March when the limited-overs series against South Africa was cancelled just before the coronavirus lockdown. And Dravid is of the opinion that things will start “stressful” in October.
“We’ve been lucky so far [that the pandemic started in March towards the end of BCCI’s domestic season], but come October, things might start getting stressful.
“A few international tournaments have been cancelled and repositioned, and people can always find time and place for that, but once October comes around, that’s when I think it’ll start hitting us more. The next domestic season, for a lot of our young domestic players juniors, Under-16s, Under-19s and women cricketers start in October.
“If we aren’t able to get back to a level of normalcy from then it could take longer we’ll see the real impact on our domestic cricket and grassroots cricket. This year is probably more important for someone in his final year of Under-19s, than say for someone who is 23-24,” Dravid told the Deccan Herald.
International cricket resumed earlier this month when England hosted the West Indies for a series of 3 Tests. Indian cricket will restart with the upcoming 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, which is all set to be played in the United Arab Emirates from September 19.
