Chris Morris and many South Africa players returned back to the country after IPL 2021 was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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The alarm bells had rung when two Kolkata Knight Riders players had tested positive for the coronavirus. The game against Royal Challengers Bangalore was postponed. Chris Morris, the Rajasthan Royals pacer who was bought for a record Rs 16.25 crore, was in isolation along with the team doctor and Kumar Sangakkara. The Sri Lanka legend put his hand on his throat and indicated that was it for the moment. It turned out to be true. After Amit Mishra and Wriddhiman Saha tested positive for the coronavirus, IPL 2021 was postponed.
On Tuesday, the likes of AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Lungi Ngidi were back in the country. Chris Morris and Gerald Coetzee also left on Tuesday while Quinton de Kock and Marco Jansen’s plans were unconfirmed. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are expected to leave on Friday while David Miller left on Wednesday evening.
Speaking to IOL, Morris recounted the days before the IPL was suspended. “By Monday, when they postponed that game (between Kolkata and Royal Challengers Bangalore), we knew the tournament was under pressure to continue. I was chatting to our team doctor, whose room was across the hallway from my mine in the hotel, and Kumar (Sangakarra, the Royals’ head coach) came around the corner, and drew his finger across his throat, and then we knew it was over. And then it was chaos,” Morris said.
Morris did say that playing IPL 2021 posed a moral dilemma for him. The tournament took place at a time when India was registering over 350,000 cases on a daily basis. On Wednesday, India recorded a global record of 412,000 cases. Morris said it was tough to be happy in a bubble at a time when people outside were dying.
“For me, this was always a two-fold thing; on the one hand, we’re playing a tournament, all happy and smiling in a bubble. Outside so many people are suffering. On the flip side of it, there was the fact that by playing, we were ensuring people actually stayed at home, watched us, and at least had something to smile about or something else to think about – even if it was being unhappy with how we played in a game – for three hours each night,” Morris said.
