Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after sensing improvement in the overall situation of public health, has announced to start its domestic season 2020-21. The news report regarding the board’s plan to carry on cricketing activity is an encouraging one. The resumption of domestic cricket is an excellent decision for both players’ fitness and achieving normalcy. It will also help players in gaining their form and rhythm. The preparations and protocols prepared by the PCB to complete the domestic season are up to the mark.
The special precautions that the cricketing board has pronounced and the announcement that it will reimburse the players the fee for COVID-19 tests are encouraging. The board has recently undergone robust financial management and a belt-tightening exercise to cope with the challenging economic situation due to the pandemic. Yet mercifully, it increased the match fees and salaries of players who were supposed to play the domestic season.
Increasing salaries and match fees of the players were necessary to provide them with psychological comfort in these testing times. To ensure that the matches take place smoothly, the players need to adhere to the board’s recommendation of conducting tests and remaining in the “bio-secure zones.”
The comprehensive protocols that the PCB has announced to kick start the domestic season with the National T20 Cup from 30 September will be a test of players’ discipline as well. Sportsmen do not have it easy in this time; their lives are the most affected through protocol measures, as their rules are stricter than others’. Understandably, the players would want to be free; but this would carry the risk of infecting other professionals as well.
Given that the players will cut themselves off from the outside world, the PCB must take care of the players’ physical and mental health. However, the cricketers must realise that any lax behaviour shown by even one amongst them can undermine the whole exercise and can disrupt the continuity of the domestic season.