The Indian team deserve appreciation. Let me tell you the reason. Let us try to imagine this. You have just travelled to a foreign country. Immediately upon landing, you are frisked by a group of security guards and transported to a hotel. Now, you have officially entered the bio-secure bubble. There you are expected to stay within the confines of the 4 walls for 7 days. Thereafter, you are allowed to go out but not out of the bubble even for a minute. Unless your family members had travelled with you or has entered the bubble with you, you are not allowed to meet them. Friends are completely ruled out. You are stuck to watch Netflix, Prime and other streaming services.
Now, imagine this. All of the above, after you had already underwent a similar bubble in your country of birth. It went for about 2 weeks. Imagine doing the same over and over again over the last 12 months. It will take a huge toll on not only your performance but your mental health, relationship with family and friends and the sheer hopelessness. This is what the Indian team as a whole, have undergone over the last 12 months. It is only a miracle that most of them are still standing and ready to fight with England next month. This commands nothing but our highest respect. Atleast from the Indian fans.
Now, let us go over the entire period
The Indian players started getting into the bubble, though individually, for the IPL 2020 in the month of September 2020. Ofcourse, the players were all part of different franchises and as such weren’t playing for India. Nonetheless, a bubble is a bubble irrespective of one plays for his country or franchise. The IPL finals was played on 10 November 2020. That is just short of 2.5 months.
Most of the players went straight to Australia directly from Dubai. That series the entire bubble lasted for 2 months. Granted some of the players were injured and had return home. In the case of Kohli, he had a very short tour. Except for a few, the core remained in Australia though some of them were injured. Ashwin, Bumrah, Vihari to name a few.
It was followed by a short gap of a week when players were allowed to leave the bubble and a week hardly counts.
England’s Tour
England arrived on these shores and were locked in across 2 months in tests, ODIs and T20s followed by another round of IPL which was mercifully cut short in about a month. Nevertheless, a month of life inside the bubble. The Indian players were finally able to break free of the bubble albeit for 20 days when they had to quarantine in Mumbai before travelling to England for the WTC finals and the England series. This will go on till the middle of September. It is 12 months of being inside the bubble. Credit to the players because during this period, India won in Australia against all odds and won the England series, Tests, ODIs & T20s. Ofcourse, the WTC finals was lost but credit to New Zealand for that.
It is extremely difficult to keep up performance during this challenging phase. All the teams have to go through similar exercise. However, there isn’t much merit in that argument.
Other teams
South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan & Bangladesh have hardly played any length of meaningful cricket during the period. Yes, they have played few limited overs series and a couple of test series but there were relatively a large gap between the series. Except for Pakistan, every other cricket playing nation is involved in the IPL and as such they would have spent the same volume of time as the Indians. Is that so? It is not true. Only the cream of the players from these countries are hired by the various IPL franchises. Whereas in the case of India, every Indian player is involved. Even a Pujara who is normally overlooked in every IPL auction was hired in 2021.
Australians have enjoyed an extended break after the India series. We all know the rotation policy followed by the English Cricket Board. The point is none of the player from other countries have had to endure the sort of difficulty the Indian team is under. Except for Kohli, Shami because of his injury and to a certain extent Ishant & Bumrah, the rest have not had a meaningful time away from the bubble. Therein lies the problem. A problem that does not have an easy solution. Nonetheless, I salute the Indian team for their endurance and if they manage to win the England series, it will be an extraordinary achievement.
Other topics to read while the team is in England.