IPL 2020 has been postponed till April 15 due to Coronavirus outbreak.
After Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens, Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium has been offered to convert it onto an isolation center, as the global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to wreak havoc in India with the government announced lockdown for the next 21 days to fight it.
While India’s COVID-19 positive case count has doubled over the past five days which now crossed 500 mark in the country, the fast-growing deadly virus has claimed over 19000 lives and infected over 4 Lakh people globally, leaving the only option for many countries for lockdown.
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In this challenging time, many organizations and companies are coming forward for the help and Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has also joined others, as the HCA Secretary R. Vijayanand has offered in a letter to the Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao on Wednesday (March 25) to convert the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium into the isolation centre for the Coronavirus patients.
Vijayanand told Sportstar: “We feel this is the right time to give back something to the government and the general public in return for all the wonderful support they have been extending to us over the years.
We have about 40 rooms which can be converted into full-fledged isolation wards and in view of the plenty of parking slot available at the stadium which hosts all major cricketing matches - international and IPL, we thought it would ideal for these centres.”
The HCA Secretary continued: “This initiative was unanimously backed by the HCA president Mohammad Azharuddin, Apex Council members and all the secretaries of the affiliated clubs. It is an undeniable fact that Telangana has been in the forefront and setting an example for others to follow the measures to curb the menace on a war-footing, by the way, you as the chief minister have been taking the steps setting an example for others.”
The HCA official signed off by saying: “We deem it is the moral obligation on our part in this hour of crisis to be of some help the government and we will be more than happy if HCA services are sought for any other purpose in battling this dreaded virus.”
(With Sportstar Inputs)