As clouds of smoke rose from the cremation site, where the bodies arrived faster than they could be cremated, teams of professional cricketers stood under the lights of a cavernous stadium named after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Jarring scenes took place on Thursday in Ahmedabad, the capital of Mr. Modi’s home state of Gujarat and a hot spot in India’s spiraling coronavirus outbreakwho claims an average of Almost 3,000 people live nationwide every day.
For decades, cricket and its charismatic stars have held a prominent place in India, where the once posh colonial game attracts its largest and most passionate fan base. Now the public anger is growing up the international marquee of sport, the Indian Premier League, which plays games in a “bio-bubble” with no spectators, has criticized it for diverting resources from the country’s broader coronavirus struggle.
“There is a lack of empathy for corpses lying in crematoria around your stadium,” said Rahul Verma, a lawyer and die-hard cricket fan who said he has been an avid supporter of the cricket league game since it started in 2008, a gentleman’s game has never been so grotesque. “
With hospitals facing a shortage of ICU beds, relatives of the sick are sending desperate requests on social media Oxygen, medicine and other scarce supplies. Many Indians say they don’t know if they are infected with the coronavirus because overwhelmed laboratories have stopped processing tests.
One group that does not appear to be affected is the wealthy and powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India, the regulator that oversees the Indian Premier League, which is based on the Premier League of football in England, and players from all over the world World includes.
The Board has provided ambulances with mobile intensive care beds in standby stadiums outside of the stadiums where games are played in the event a player becomes ill. It tests players every two days and has created a travel bubble between the stadiums in the six states that play games, including dedicated airport cricketer check-in desks.
Meanwhile, some Indians say they cannot cross state lines to find hospital beds for Covid-19 patients.
Hemang Amin, the Chief Operating Officer of the Board of Directors, said in a letter It was announced this week that the health and safety of players and staff is “of the utmost importance,” adding that the games, which end on May 30th, will be a necessary distraction at a difficult time.
“If you all go out into the field, you bring hope to the millions of those who have settled,” he wrote.
The league’s security protocols, however, have only made clear the gap between their star players – who have said little publicly in the face of criticism – and the rest of the country.
“That ambulance outside this stadium could have saved at least ten lives a day,” said Ishan Singh, a cricket fan in Delhi. “These players are thieves. If they get a chance, they’ll steal wood from the cremations and sell it in the market. “
The New Indian Express, a daily newspaper, said in an editorial this week that it would suspend coverage of the cricket league until “an appearance of normalcy is restored” to the country.
“This is commerce that has gotten ridiculous” the newspaper wrote. “The problem is not in the game, but in the timing.”
