Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said he agrees with India legend Sachin Tendulkar that the COVID-19 pandemic shall be treated like a Test match in difficult conditions, by adopting a session-by-session approach as teams do at the highest level.
With the deadly outbreak bringing the world to a standstill and leading to suspension of all sporting activities, Tendulkar had urged people not to lose hope and take all necessary precautionary measures important for their survival, citing an example from the cricket field.
"I agree with Sachin. I think you know we need to just try and break this down, and try and look at it in isolation every time -- just small steps like in a session by session (scenario). Deal with every day, make sure your days are well planned, well structured," McCullum, the head coach of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, was quoted as saying on the franchise's website.
“I think that’s the best thing from what we’ve tried to do in our family as well. Every day, write a bit of a plan of what we’re going to try to tick off and what we’re going to try and achieve. Funnily enough we’ve done it around meal times -- breakfast together, lunch together and then dinner together."
“Additionally, just sort of tick off some jobs outside, whether it’s cleaning out your wardrobes or whether its cleaning the roof or doing all the gutters or whatever, there’s always something to be done. Just as Sachin said, play it like a Test match and break it down into sessions," he added.
The contagious virus originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year and has since infected more than 20 lakh people, claiming over one lakh lives as of Saturday (April 18).
"Well, I guess we are all dealing with it in different ways, and every country has its own issues at the moment," said McCullum, with various countries imposing travelling restrictions on all their citizens, announcing lockdowns.
"It has definitely passed things slowly. I’m trying to enjoy the time that I’m getting at home with the family, because in a funny way, we are all forced to really spend a lot of time with our loved ones which is fantastic."
"We probably don’t stop and take as much time to appreciate that," he added. "When we are on the other side of this pandemic and hopefully, we haven’t lost too many lives, and things are returning to normal in the schedule of all of us cricket coaches, commentators and people all around involved in the game, it’s going to get pretty intense. So I’m trying to just enjoy the break for now."
(Inputs from IANS)
