The President of the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) Sourav Ganguly feels that Indian players are mentally more strong and have more capacity to observe the situation than the foreign players, say of England Australia or West Indies. Veiling an attack on those players, the former India captain tried to suggest that there is not much threat to the IPL as is being perceived.
"I feel we Indians are a bit more tolerant than overseas (cricketers). I have played with a lot of Englishmen, Australians, and the West Indians, they just give up on mental health," Ganguly told reporters in Chennai ahead of the first IPL game of the season. Mumbai Indians will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on April 9.
Projecting the Indian players as people who took the bubble scenario in an exemplary manner, the 48-year-old said, "In the last six-seven months, with so much cricket being going on in the bio-bubble, it's so tough. Just going from the hotel room to the ground, handle the pressure and come back to the room and then get back to the ground again, it's an absolutely different life."
The Bengal Tiger then went on to compare the Indian team with respect to the English and Australian sides, one of which cancelled its South Africa tour due to rising Covid-19 cases, while the other had to cancel it mid-way.
"Look at the Australian team, they were supposed to go to South Africa for a Test series after India played there. They refused to go there...," said Ganguly.
Saying that mental training of expecting the worst-case scenario and living with it is the only way forward as far as fighting with Covid-19 mentally is concerned.
"There's this scare of Covid. 'Hope it's not me the next time’. You have to stay positive, you have to train yourself mentally. All of us have to train ourselves mentally so that goodwill happen. It boils down to training,” Ganguly added.