Mumbai Indians (MI) fielding coach James Pamment reached New Zealand along with Trent Boult, Matt Henry, James Neesham, and bowling coach Shane Bond.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) despite starting off on the scheduled date, saw the COVID-19 pandemic have the last laugh as the cash-rich tournament got postponed. Many players and staff were seen getting infected despite staying in a strict bio-bubble.
Amid all this, Mumbai Indians (MI) fielding coach James Pamment has revealed details on how things were during the pandemic-hit IPL 2021.
The New Zealander, who recently reached his country from the tournament, revealed that some of the senior Indian players did not like to be told what to do. Pamment traveled with Trent Boult, Matt Henry, James Neesham, and bowling coach Shane Bond back to Auckland.
"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," Pamment told stuff.co.nz.
The New Zealander further stated that some of the Indian players had family members who were getting sick but continued to do their job.
"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," James Pamment added.
As for the Mumbai Indians campaign, the defending champions having won the 2019 and 2020 titles, lost their first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
They then beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), before succumbing to Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Delhi Capitals (DC). Before the tournament got suspended, they won matches against Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
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