NEW DELHI: Ravichandran Ashwin lightheartedly invoked his ‘mankad’ controversy with England’s Jos Buttler as India’s famous person cricketers urged the nation of 1.three billion to watch its strict lockdown to keep away from spreading the novel coronavirus.
The spin bowler tweeted an image of his dismissal of Buttler precisely a yr in the past within the Indian Premier League, when he noticed the batsman out of his crease on the non-striker’s finish and ran him out.
“Hahaha, somebody sent me this and told me it’s exactly been 1 year since this run out happened,” wrote Ashwin, who has modified his Twitter show title to “let’s stay indoors India”.
“As the nation goes into a lockdown, this is a good reminder to my citizens. Don’t wander out. Stay inside, stay safe! #21DayLockdown.”
The tactic of dismissal, named after former India participant Vinoo Mankad, is authorized however is seen by many as going towards the sport’s values, until the batsman has been warned first.
India, which has seen a pointy rise in COVID-19 circumstances, went right into a 21-day “total lockdown” at midnight on Tuesday, with anybody ignoring the order going through as much as two years in jail and a high quality.
This yr’s IPL, the world’s richest cricket league, is likely one of the many sports activities occasions worldwide to be postponed together with the Tokyo Olympics, which has been delayed till subsequent yr.
Ashwin wasn’t the one cricketer to induce folks to remain at residence, with India skipper Virat Kohli and his Bollywood actress spouse Anushka Sharma additionally interesting to the general public to watch the lockdown.
Kohli and Sharma have a mixed 55 million followers on Twitter, and posted their joint message on the platform.
“These are testing times and we need to wake up to the seriousness of this situation,” Kohli mentioned within the message recorded in Hindi. “Please let us all follow what’s been told to us and stand united please. It’s a plea to everyone. Stay at home and save your family from coronavirus,”
The couple mentioned it’ll take time to fight the pandemic and folks ought to adhere to the federal government’s name for a curfews.
“If you show carelessness, the whole nation will have to pay a heavy price,” Kohli mentioned. “For 21 days India has to stay at home and save the Indian nation.”
Collectively, the couple say: “Show your unity, save lives and your country.”
Batting icon Sachin Tendulkar posted: “This simple task [staying indoors] can save millions of lives”.
In the meantime India opener Shikhar Dhawan posted a skit of him doing family chores, equivalent to washing his garments and cleansing the bathroom seat, whereas getting orders from his spouse.
“Life after one week at home. Reality hits hard,” he wrote.
Printed in Daybreak, March 26th, 2020
