Most players and staff felt safe in the IPL bio-bubble but travelling was always going to be a challenge, said Mumbai Indians fielding coach James Pamment, who also added some Indian players did not like being told what to do.
Pamment was one of several players, coaches and officials from New Zealand who arrived back in the country on Saturday after the postponement of the 2021 IPL. Pamment made it clear that he along with the Kiwi players felt very confident in the franchise’s management and were aware of what was happening across the country as well.
“Some of the senior Indian guys don't like being restricted and told what to do, but we did feel safe – at no point did we feel the bubble would be compromised, the challenge was the travel,” he was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz.
“But we started to get Indian guys in our environment whose families were very sick.
“There were bereavements as well and we were taking a bit of a cue from those guys who were saying 'no, we want to carry on' and the messages were coming back that this is a good distraction.
“And it is an Indian league, run by Indian people for the Indian audience in the main and we're just fortunate to be there to be providing our professional services.”
Pamment also added that the event should not have been spread across six venues. He said he expected the BCCI to set up the IPL in Mumbai solely.
Pamment said that it was when a support staff member in the team tested positive after they went to Chennai that they realised that the bubble was not impenetrable.
“If it (IPL) had been held solely in Mumbai, perhaps it’d have been easily managed, but once cases rise in Mumbai, you’re looking at ground staff, you’re looking at different service-type people that it’s going to be hard to manage,” he said.
“We had a case ourselves on our first travel to Chennai? it was a support staff member, fortunately picked up very quickly and he was isolated, and none of the people considered close contacts to him were infected.
“It was a very early reminder that your bubble’s not impenetrable. We probably got even stricter around how we operated.”
Pamment arrived in New Zealand on Saturday night along with Trent Boult, Finn Allen, James Neesham, Adam Milne, Scott Kuggeleijn, Shane Bond and Mike Hesson, while a second flight landed on Sunday in Auckland carrying Brendon McCullum, Stephen Fleming, Kyle Mills, Lockie Ferguson, Simon Doull, Scott Styris and Chris Gaffaney.
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