With the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League around the corner, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli was seen sweating it out with his teammates in Dubai on Tuesday. The tournament has been moved to UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic and it gets underway from September 19.
Taking to Twitter, Indian Premier League posted photos from the net session and wrote: A go at the nets in Dubai.
Kohli had earlier made it clear that under no circumstances should players break the bio bubble created to save them from the pandemic. "Whatever I said on the Zoom call should not be a matter of pressure for anyone because of the magnitude of the COVID situation. We are all here to eventually play cricket and take care of this tournament and surroundings. The bio-bubble needs to be respected in order for the tournament to happen," Kohli had said in a video posted on the official YouTube channel of RCB.
"We are here because we have the opportunity to play. We are not here to roam around and have fun. We are not living in such a time where we can hang around Dubai, we have to understand the privilege we have in front of us, everyone should accept it and they should not have unrealistic desires," he added.
Last week, during a Zoom call with his teammates and support staff, Kohli had said as to how no player can afford to breach the bio-bubble of the franchise.
"If someone was to end up in such a situation or position, for me that's letting the whole team down because it might happen at a stage of a tournament where we can't afford to lose that player. If he does so, and we get harmed by it, then the whole team, the whole system, and culture loses. I just wanted to talk about this so that everyone understands the repercussions that may take place if someone violates the rules," Kohli had said in the team meeting.
When asked as to whether such a warning will create pressure on the youngsters within the team, Kohli said: "Look, I understand that you might not have had the balanced understanding of things, initially you might not have had clarity about so many things, even I did not have clarity initially.
"It should not be a thing of pressure, if someone guided me as to what is the right thing to do when I was new to the team, I would have loved it. I would have had a clear vision in front of me."
On Saturday, the BCCI confirmed that 13 personnel including two players tested positive for COVID-19.
( With inputs from ANI )
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