Swashbuckling Indian batsman Rohit Sharma is holed up in his apartment like everybody else in the country amid the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has already infected more than 600 people and killed 15 people.
Speaking about the ongoing situation during a video chat with former England batsman Kevin Pietersen on Instagram, Rohit said he was “very sad” when he heard about the lockdown as he was itching to make his comeback in cricket after two months of injury.
“I was injured for two months so have been itching to play. When I got the news that everything was going to be postponed I was very sad. I was really looking forward to playing in the IPL,” Rohit said.
Rohit had been recovering — from a calf injury which he sustained during the fifth T20I between India and New Zealand — at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru before it was shut down due to the spread of the pandemic.
The IPL, which was earlier postponed from March 29 to April 15, faces an existential crisis as India remains under a lockdown till April 14.
Rohit, however, hoped that the 13th edition of the cash-rich tournament takes place when everything settles down and the novel coronavirus stops spreading its wrath.
“At some stage, when things settle down, it might happen, who knows,” the Mumbai Indians and IPL’s most successful skipper was seen saying. Rohit’s Mumbai Indians were scheduled to host Chennai Super Kings in the first match of the 2020 season at the Wankhede Stadium.
“Regardless of all that, the safety of the country and the whole world is important. And I can see that there is a lot of discipline in the country. In India I can see that people have been disciplined in the lockdown,” he said.
(With IANS inputs)