Quarantine XI of Indian cricketers

The Coronavirus pandemic has left the cricketers with no options but to sit at home. This has also come as a much-needed break for them from their hectic schedule. Especially the Indian cricketers are the ones who are playing almost every month of the year and probably for the first time in the last decade or so, they haven’t played at all for more than a month.

And the break has been extended with the IPL also being deferred until April 15 for now. With nothing to do, the players have been interacting with the fans and have also found a way to contact their counterparts live on Instagram. Likewise, even the cricket fans are finding new ways on social media to keep themselves entertained.

Similarly, a Twitter user, Nandan Kamath, came up with an interesting XI named Indian Quarantine XI assigning roles related to the ongoing pandemic. Referring to the same, here we bring you the Quarantine XI of the Indian cricketers with a few changes explaining everyone’s role sitting at home.

Here’s our Indian Quarantine XI:

1. Sourav Ganguly – Air-Drying Shirts

The BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has been busy ever since he has taken over the reins. However, he is currently facing a huge problem of organising the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which has been deferred until April 15 due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. He has donated a significant amount and has helped the poor and needy people during this crisis time.

He is spending his time at home with his family at the moment. During his playing days, Ganguly was a fierce competitor and led the Indian team the same way. The moment of him removing the jersey to celebrate after India won the Natwest trophy beating England at Lord’s in 2002 is still fresh in fans’ minds. And for the same reasons, he has been given the role of air-drying shirts during his home quarantine.

2. Sachin Tendulkar – Record Keeping

Sachin Tendulkar, before the spread of the COVID-19, was leading the India Legends in the Road Safety World Series. The elegance in his batting didn’t go anywhere despite playing after a long time and enjoyed his time in the middle before the tournament was postponed. And since then, the master blaster has been busy supporting the government in any way possible and has also been at home like others.

Throughout his career, Tendulkar made a habit of creating his own and breaking some old records. And during this Coronavirus pandemic, keeping a record has been a huge task for the healthcare workers and the concerned persons. As Sachin has done it for 24 years of his illustrious career, the task has been assigned to him.

3. Rahul Dravid – Lockdown

Probably the whole world has to adapt Rahul Dravid‘s way of batting during these tough times. Dravid was the epitome of patience when he batted in Test cricket. He used to frustrate the bowlers by playing dot balls and make them bowl to his strengths eventually.

Similarly, the lockdown has been imposed in most of the countries and the people should be patient just like Dravid used to be during his playing days. In Test cricket, occupying the crease is of primary importance for a batsman and in a similar way, we can tackle Coronavirus by doing the same i.e.. by staying inside our homes and eventually, the Rahul Dravid way will lead to the virus getting locked down.

4. Cheteshwar Pujara – Test Specialist

Who better than Cheteshwar Pujara to bat with Rahul Dravid? The former has been one of its kind with his style of batting in Tests in modern cricket. Testing the patients has been of prime importance for the doctors during these crisis times and a lot of specialists are at work.

And Pujara, who bats at number three for India, could be assigned this role as he is the ‘Test specialist’ when it comes to playing for the country.

5. Virat Kohli – Keeping a check on everything

The Indian captain Virat Kohli has been enjoying his quarantine time with his wife Anushka Sharma. He has also been leading the way in creating awareness about the COVID-19 pandemic and has posted several videos on social media urging his fans and followers to stay at home.

As he is the captain of the Indian team, he has been given the role of keeping a check on all the happenings and act accordingly. Kohli is used to leading from the front for his country and when it comes to this, he will surely be eager to contribute to the nation.

6. MS Dhoni – Social Distancing

MS Dhoni is best associated to this term ‘Social Distancing’. He knows how to do it the best and every now and then stays away from most of the controversies and seldom comments on anything. He has also kept himself away from social media in an era when most of the celebrities and cricketers use it nowadays. So who better than to learn from about social distancing? Just follow him and you will be safe.

7. Rishabh Pant – Babysitter

Rishabh Pant made his name as a T20 batsman. But he has done decently enough playing in Test cricket so far and has been under scrutiny much for his non-performance in the limited-overs formats. Moreover, he was also in the limelight for indulging in a hilarious conversation with Australia skipper Tim Paine during India’s tour down under in 2018-19 season.

Paine had offered him a babysitter’s role during Pant’s stay in Australia and the picture of him actually holding his kids in a function went viral like anything. During this home quarantine time then, the left-hander has been given the role of a babysitter at home having performed the role well the last time around.

8. Ravindra Jadeja – Flatten the curve

Ravindra Jadeja has an important role to perform in this XI. While with the Indian team, the left-arm spinner delivers his overs quickly bowling tight lines. He rarely gives any room to the batsmen which, in a way, flattens the run-rate of the opposition team.

Similarly, Jaddu has a role of keeping things tight in this fight against Coronavirus and help India ‘flatten the curve’ by making sure that the people are following the instructions. Flatten the curve effectively means to decrease rate of Coronavirus cases and one would hope that he does a similar job here too like he does for team India.

9. Ravi Shastri – Contact tracer

‘The ball races away to the boundary like a tracer bullet.’ Ravi Shastri is known best for his commentary and his role here is similar to this. The Indian head coach has to trace contacts of the people affected from Coronavirus to arrest its transmission. His role with the Indian team is to keep everyone’s mind clear in terms of their game and here he will be making sure that the country stays clear of Coronavirus by tracing the contacts quickly.

10. Ravi Ashwin – Quarantine Violation Enforcement

Ravi Ashwin is the best interpretor of the laws of the game. He is clear about the rules of the game and lets others know about their mistake when they break it (referring to Jos Buttler’s mankading last year in the IPL). And most importantly, he stays put his actions and such a person is needed to check if the people are staying in home quarantine.

To make sure that the Coronavirus is not spreading, the authorities have requested the people with travel history to stay in home quarantine for 14 days. And Ashwin will make sure that such people are following it and not breaking the rule.

11. Jasprit Bumrah – Stay Inside the line

Jasprit Bumrah has emerged as the leader of India’s bowling attack across all formats very early in his career. But he was the one who first learnt the importance of staying inside the line. In the Champions Trophy 2017 final against Pakistan, Bumrah had dismissed Fakhar Zaman but he had overstepped and the reprieve led to the batmsan smashing a match-winning century. So who better than to know the repercussions of crossing the line during the pandemic.

Here’s the tweet which we have referred to frame this XI:

As we all focus on cricket archives, nostalgia and lists, here's an Indian Quarantine Cricket XI pic.twitter.com/WpxYzTAO3m

— Nandan Kamath (@nandankamath) April 8, 2020