India head coach Ravi Shastri on Friday (March 27) said sports coming to a grinding halt owing to the COVID-19 outbreak is a "welcome rest" for Indian cricketers, who have been on the road since World Cup in UK last year.
With the rapidly increasing novel Coronavirus cases, the world has come to a virtual standstill. People have been told to practice social distancing as the pandemic has claimed more than 27,000 lives and infected over 597,000 globally thus far.
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The crisis has also impacted the sporting events as all the series and tournaments have been either cancelled or postponed.
"(This rest) cannot be a bad thing because towards the end of the New Zealand tour, you could see some cracks coming up when it came to mental fatigue, physical fitness and injuries," Shastri said while speaking to former England captains Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Rob Key on a Sky Sports podcast.
According to Shastri, the players may exploit the time to recharge themselves, especially after a daunting New Zealand tour where India played five T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests.
"The amount of cricket we have played over the last ten months, that was beginning to take its toll. Guys like me, and some other guys from the support staff, we left India on May 23 for the World Cup in England. Since then we have been at home for 10 or 11 days.
"There are certain players who played all three formats, so you can imagine the toll it has taken on them, especially being on the field, adjusting from T20s to Test match cricket and all the travel that goes with that because we travelled quite a lot," he said.
After the World Cup, the Indian team travelled to the Caribbean, then hosted South Africa, Bangladesh, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Australia that was followed by a full tour of New Zealand.
"So it has been tough but a welcome rest for players," the coach said.
India is currently in a 21-day lockdown and as per Shastri, his players knew something like this was on the cards when the ODI series against South Africa was called off earlier this month.
"It came as a shock but to be honest, having been on the road during the South Africa series, we guys anticipated it," he said.
"We knew something was on the cards as the disease had just started spreading. When the second ODI was called off, we knew something was gonna happen and a lockdown was imminent."
The disease, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has so far infected over 870 people in India and took away 19 lives.
"I think the players knew it was coming, they sensed it in New Zealand. There were apprehensions towards the end of that tour, when flights were coming through Singapore, out of Singapore."
"By the time we landed (in India), I thought we got out at just the right time. There were only two cases in New Zealand at that time, that has rocketed now to 300.
"The day we landed, that was the first day they were screening and testing people at the airport. So (we came back) just in the nick of time."
Shastri said that in such a situation, players could play a role by spreading awareness about this epidemic.
"As players, you have a lot of responsibility. That's why the message is very clear that cricket should be last on everyone's mind now," he said.
"I think the most important thing is safety and not ensuring just your safety but ensuring safety of others as well, by creating a kind of awareness that tells people there is something serious around.
"Virat has done it, a lot of other players have done it by posting certain messages on social media. They knew that it's something very serious and there could be a hold up in cricket for some time."
(With PTI inputs)
