BENGALURU: Royal Challengers Bengaluru Director of Cricket, Mo Bobat, was at the press conference hall of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday evening. He was taking questions from the media and in the process, explained how the week-long suspension of the Indian Premier League gave some of the players in their team a much-needed break before getting back on the field.
There was an air of calmness in the room as he was handing clarifications in regards to the availability of players on the eve of the game against Kolkata Knight Riders — which will kick-start the remaining leg of the IPL. About a week ago, the mood within the camp was not the same. RCB were training in Lucknow last Thursday, getting ready to face Lucknow Super Giants the day after. That is when they saw what was happening in Dharamsala, with the floodlights switched off and crowd being evacuated from the venue in the middle of the Punjab Kings versus Delhi Capitals game.
As the match was called off midway due to the cross border tension between India and Pakistan, panic and chaos had ensued. Not just for RCB but almost every team in the IPL, especially PBKS and DC, who had to take a special train from Jalandhar to New Delhi the next day. It was an unprecedented situation, in particular for Indian cricket, where the game had to be called off midway because of border tension less than 100kms away from the venue. As PBKS and DC were heading to the capital city, the BCCI decided to suspend the IPL for a week to see if the situation de-escalates. From the moment the announcement was made, players dispersed, many took the first flight out, to their respective states and countries.
"We were quite keen to send the players home because actually (it was) a good chance for them to have a break. For the Indian players, that's relatively straightforward. With the overseas players, myself and (head coach) Andy (Flower) sat them down and spoke to them all and said, 'Look, what is your preference?' and a lot of them said, 'look we'd like to go home because it's a period of uncertainty but we're very committed, and if we need to come back, we'll come back'," revealed Bobat in a video shared by RCB.
Even though the situation improved and the IPL was set to resume in a week, things had changed overnight and the cross border tension then had left a lasting mark on several players. For some, it turned out to be a much-needed break from the chaos or time to heal from injuries. However, some had gone through a mental anguish that they chose not to return, especially with little time to process. The franchises have extended their support to the players while the BCCI allowed the teams to sign replacement players, whoever is available, based on the international calendar. It was a necessity, especially with the revised schedule extending eight days more than the original schedule.
With RCB and KKR soon to be in action, one hopes that normalcy will be restored.