Sachin Tendulkar urges everyone to draw lessons from Test cricket to tackle COVID-19

The novel coronavirus has taken the entire world under its dreaded wings. In India, the total number of positive cases of COVID-19 stand at 166 as of Thursday morning. Due to the deadly virus, the entire sporting calendar has been shredded into pieces with all the high profile tournaments getting either cancelled or postponed. Former Indian cricketer and a legend of the gentlemen’s game Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday expressed his emotions in this dire situation as he asked everyone to draw lessons from Test cricket.

Tendulkar said that Test cricket always rewards players for respecting what they don’t understand while adding the longest and oldest format of the game makes one value the virtue of patience. The Little Master further said that that defence becomes the best form of attack when the conditions are tough for a batsman in Test cricket as he urged everyone to remain patient and be on the back-foot.

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“Cricket is a unique sport. Most sports compete against other sports for fans’ attention, but cricket competes with ever-evolving versions of itself. There has been much debate about the relevance of Test Cricket in the fast-paced T20 world. While the world battles the Covid-19 pandemic, this is probably the time for all of us to draw lessons from the grand old format of the game,” Tendulkar wrote in a column for a leading daily.

“Test cricket rewards you for respecting what you don’t understand. It makes you value the virtue of patience. When you don’t understand the pitch conditions or the bowler, defence becomes the best form of attack,” Tendulkar added.

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Regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Tendulkar further said that he never thought he would witness anything like this in his entire life.However, the Master Blaster added that like in Test cricket, it is about partnership and teamwork, and that is what everyone needs to do in a bid to defeat the novel coronavirus.

“Patience is what we require now, if we have to defend well. In my entire life as a professional cricketer and beyond, I never thought I would see anything like this. Cricket in India and globally has come to a complete standstill,” Tendulkar advised.

“To use a cricketing metaphor, while individual brilliance can help a team in shorter formats of the game, in Test cricket it is all about partnerships and teamwork. If a batter faces the easy overs and keeps letting partners take on the menacing bowlers, then he or she may score runs and remain unbeaten, but the innings will collapse. This is a valuable lesson for us to learn from,” Sachin further wrote in the column.

While the situation continues to deteriorate with each passing day, the medical authorities are doing their best to curb the situation. However, the responsibility lies on the hands of respective individuals to follow the advisory and maintain social distancing and self-isolation as much as possible.