Kolkata: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President and former India captain Sourav Ganguly admitted that while he is enjoying the time he is getting to spend at home during the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, he feels sad about the number of lives that are being destroyed in this period.
“It’s been a month into the lockdown. I didn’t mind it earlier,” Ganguly said on 100 hours 100 Stars, an initiative started by Fever Network, “Earlier, I wouldn’t get time at home like this. My lifestyle involved travelling for work every day. For the past 30-32 days, I have been at home with my family, spending time with my wife, daughter, my mother and my brother. I have got time like this after long, so I am enjoying myself.
“But I am also really upset seeing the current situation because so many people are suffering outside. We are still struggling to understand how to stop this pandemic. This atmosphere all over the world has really bothered me. We don’t know how, when and where it came from — we all were unprepared for this.
“People are being affected by this so much. There have been so many deaths. This situation upsets me, and I also feel scared. People come to my house to deliver groceries, food, so I feel a little scared as well. So it’s a mixed feeling. I just want this to end as quickly as possible.”
Ganguly said that he has been doing his administrative work from home. He said that the experience from his playing days is now coming in handy.
“I have been working from home — BCCI and ICC work and my own work. But my own work is a little less right now, because the shooting, the sport and the schools have been closed. But the documents work, administrative work and paperwork, I have been doing from home now,” he said.
“Cricket has taught me a lot. I faced real-life, high-pressure situations. You have to make runs and there is just one ball left. If you make one wrong move, one wrong footwork, you will not get another chance. These kinds of situations make you alert and aware of real-life situations.
“It also helps you in making quick decisions, because, in the field of cricket, you don’t have time to think. You have to decide on the spot in seconds. This game teaches you a lot of things — patience, resilience. It also taught you about failure and success. When you play, you tune your mind towards success. Similarly, in life, when you feel a bad phase in life, you feel you can get through it.”
