Kumar Sangakkara came and drew his finger across his throat, and then we knew IPL was over: Chris Morris

South Africa’s bowling all-rounder Chris Morris was experiencing a happening ride in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for his franchise Rajasthan Royals. However, the tournament was indefinitely postponed on May 4 owing to the rise in the number of coronavirus cases among the players and the support staff. Thus, after the bio bubble was dismantled, Morris and his other South African teammates immediately left India and have now safely reached their home country. 

The all-rounder can’t help but feel relieved after reaching his home safe and sound. In an interaction, Morris opined on the events that led to the suspension of the T20 Championship and how the Rajasthan Royals Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara revealed the news to him. The Covid-19 scare in IPL 2021 started with KKR’s Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier testing positive for the novel coronavirus. Speaking about the same, Morris revealed that there was a panic in RR’s camp after the players heard of the positive cases. 

“The moment we heard that, when players are testing positive, inside the bubble, then everyone starts asking questions. The alarm bells definitely started going off for all of us. By Monday when they postponed that game (between Kolkata and Royal Challengers Bangalore), we knew the tournament was under pressure to continue,” Chris Morris told iol.co.za.  

Speaking about how he received the news of IPL 2021 getting suspended for an indefinite time, Morris revealed that he was chatting with the team doctor and RR’s Director of Cricket drew his finger across his throat. The speedster revealed that the news caused chaos in the camp as many England players were worried about completing a quarantine period after reaching their home country.

By playing, we were ensuring people actually stayed at home: Chris Morris

“I was chatting to our team doctor, whose room was across the hallway from my mine in the hotel, and Kumar (Sangakkara, the Royals’ head coach) came around the corner and drew his finger across his throat, and then we knew it was over. And then it was chaos! The England guys especially were panicking because they needed to isolate in hotels in England first, and apparently, there weren’t any rooms,” Morris added.

Further, the all-rounder opined on the debate regarding whether it was correct for BCCI to host IPL when so many people are struggling for their lives in India. Morris believed that IPL acted as a distraction for people as it helped the fans locked inside their homes.

“For me, this was always a two-fold thing; on the one hand we’re playing a tournament, all happy and smiling in a bubble, while outside so many people are suffering. On the flip side of it, there was the fact that by playing, we were ensuring people actually stayed at home, watched us, and at least had something to smile about or something else to think about – even if it was being unhappy with how we played in a game – for three hours each night,” the all-rounder concluded.

The story behind IPL 2021 cancellation