Rajasthan Royals' Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara has urged people to step forward and use their privilege to serve the community in these trying times caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
"It has been a difficult time for the people around the world. On one side, you have COVID-19 as a disease, life-threatening, and on other side you have economic consequences of the fallout. A lot of people are suffering for access to medication, hospital bed and oxygen," Sangakkara said in a video posted on Royals' official Twitter handle.
"We need to understand that privilege and use our privilege to do something useful in giving back to the communities that are in need. So wherever you are in India, Sri Lanka or in the world it is your duty to contribute. Rajasthan Royals is very very responsible when it comes to giving back to society. It takes corporate social responsibility very seriously. It is not just a gimmick or marketing term it is something that built and woven into the fabric of Rajasthan Royals," he added.
All-rounder Rahul Tewatia appealed to people to support the needy in whichever way they can. "When someone close to you suffers then you feel it more, that is what happened to me recently. My dad also got COVID and his condition was quite bad but at that time I was playing matches so I was not being told. I got to know when I returned back home," Tewatia said.
"Some people are facing a shortage of food and people are suffering a lot in this pandemic. We are lucky to able to play cricket in the bubble which is our passion," he added.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson said it is a great honour for cricketers to bring happiness to the faces of viewers in this tough phase.
"At times you feel a bit awkward to play a tournament like IPL at this moment but at the same time if you look at it in a different perspective, yesterday after winning the game I received a lot of messages saying that people really look up to our games and they feel really happy when they see us playing on the TV. It felt so great that we just need to play a good game of cricket and the whole country is happy just to watch us on the TV," he said.
"It is a great honour for all the cricketers playing in the tournament to entertain the country and the world in this bad phase we are going through," Samson added.
Rajasthan Royals has four points in five games with their second win of the season in the last game against Kolkata Knight Riders. RR will now take on Mumbai Indians in Delhi on Thursday.
( With inputs from ANI )
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