The ace Delhi Capitals opening batter feels that three venues of UAE for this IPL will reduce the travel time which will help the players better in recovery. And at the same time, the bio-bubble environment would test the emotions of the players.
“Because there will be less travel, your body won’t tire as much, usually in the IPL, your match will finish late at night, and then you’ll take a flight at 11 the next morning. Now, all the players will be able to recover better between matches.” Said Shikhar Dhawan during the press conference conducted by Delhi Capitals.
As bio-bubble is mandated for the players, from a player’s point of view, it is to deal with mental stability. Tough times for the players for sure, especially when things aren’t going on their way in the tournament.
Family comes first, even though the players won’t be with their families during the non-pandemic world IPL tournaments, the presence or visits of their family members hither and thither during IPL travels might suffice for them. But this time the players had to look for the safety of their families too along with their health conditions. This may cause an imbalance in the mindset of a player, especially for the teams like CSK which have the habit of travelling along with the families.
“There are challenges to living within the bubble,” says the Indian opener.
“Because you won’t get to meet new people, you’ll have to remain with the same people throughout. You can’t go to restaurants, you can only go to designated areas. Our team has an entertainment room, where we play TT or video games, so that’s a good thing we’ve been provided, plus we have team dinners.”
The franchises have been ticking all the boxes to keep the mental and physical health of their players to be steady. During the previous seasons, the teams had workshops that brought them out from the pressure. The workshops that were ice-breaking. Glued the team, released the stress. In the similar vein, it is expected to have such events to divert the mind of the players.
The Delhi born Indian cricketer has also said that the bio bubble would make players go through their emotions. And it won’t let them divert their mind. Adding, he had also mentioned that he is going to take this situation as an opportunity to explore his mental strength and improvise it.
“Where there are challenges, there are opportunities as well, and it depends on the person and how he views things. I see it as an opportunity to bond with my team-mates and the entire team.”
So Shikhar has eventually said both the pros and cons of this Dream 11 IPL edition’s conditions.
Furthermore, speaking of on-field challenges, Gabbar has felt that Delhi Capitals have advantages according to the typical UAE conditions. The pitches of the three venues might get the sheens and cracks because of overuse, which would go in favour of spinners as the tournament processes.
Since the Delhi based team has capitalised the leading spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Sandeep Lamichhane, Axar Patel and Amit Mishra, Gabbar has expressed that it would be an essential element for DC in the slow bowlers’ supporting pitches of UAE.
Along with that, Gabbar boasts the batting department of DC, which is found to have a greater depth in the order.
On the whole, Shikhar Dhawan has showcased the complete picture of bio bubble environment and UAE conditions. Addedly, he firmly brought in the statement regarding his team’s potentiality, which his team believes whole-heartedly.
