Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar on Friday (April 3) said managing the period after April 14 would be critical to how India progresses in its fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, a belief which was shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a video conference with sportspersons.

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In order to limit the spread of Coronavirus, Indian government on March 24 imposed a nationwide lockdown for the next three weeks.

Tendulkar was among the 40-odd elite sportspersons with whom PM Modi had an hour-long video conference to discuss the pandemic, which has claimed more than 50 lives and infected over 2000 people thus far.

“He (PM Modi) highlighted and reaffirmed my belief that we should not let our guard down after the 14th of April, & how we manage that period will be very critical,” Tendulkar said in a statement after the interaction.

As the current situation demands, the batting legend is practising social distancing like everyone else and he folds his hands nowadays to greet people instead of shaking hands.

“I also suggested that as much as possible, I will use our way of greeting - saying ‘Namaste’ instead of shaking hands, even after we overcome this pandemic,” he said.

Sachin revealed that the Prime Minister was more concerned about the elderly people, who are extremely vulnerable to this deadly virus.

“Taking care of our elders who are most vulnerable and using this time to hear from them, their stories and experiences was something the Prime Minister resonated with.”

The mental aspect of lockdown was also discussed.

“We also spoke about mental fitness being as important as physical fitness during this phase, and shared what I’m doing at home to keep fit.

“This is the time for our entire nation to come together and keep each other motivated. Like team spirit wins us games in sports, our nation should work as one team to overcome this,” Tendulkar concluded.

(With PTI inputs)