The Indian team players have been living in a bio bubble since August last year.
Fresh from the victory over a hapless England, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Saturday spoke about the struggles of life in a bio-bubble. Explaining how an individual has to grapple for basic necessities, Ashwin recalled that sometimes the Indian team had to stay in hotel rooms without fresh air in Australia as the window panes wouldn’t open.
The Indian team players have been living in a bio bubble since August last year when they had gathered in UAE for the 2020 IPL. It was followed by the tour of Australia and England’s tour to India.
“We had to deal with what was presented to us then and there in Australia. Sometimes the hotels can be very, very claustrophobic, so you don’t get fresh air also,” Ashwin said at the post-match virtual press conference.
“And in Australia, there are situations where you didn’t have window panes opening also. For 14 days, or 20 days or 25 days to stay inside that without even opening the window panes can be can be quite taxing,” he added.
“Communication is not easy, especially when you’re outdoors. Cricket Australia or whoever it is, it goes back and forth and it takes time for everything to get an answer. So, it’s like basically, when you’re waiting on certain things, it’s like two-three days of time.
“Many times the team management has stood up and tried to resolve and look at what’s best for the players in terms of arranging the sort of food that you get, very, very simple things,” said Ashwin, who has now won eight Man-of-the-Series awards in his 10-year career.
“But these are things that we need to be fighting for in these situations. Because everything needs to go through protocol. Everything needs to look at -sanitization, safety and all that,” he added.
On the brighter side of things, Ashwini said that he has managed to cope with the entire situation.
“Nobody wants to leave an Indian team bio bubble right. You want to play as much as you can.
“The last 8 months have been hard but the team morale, team spirit bonding we built, I haven’t not experienced. Understanding a lot of people and even letting the opportunity so that other people understand you.
“Bio bubbles are situations that I’ve somehow managed to enjoy. I never thought that I would be able to bond and spend so much time with every one of my teammates.”
(With PTI inputs)
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