Mohammad Azharuddin speaks about MS Dhoni's 'not easy' comeback to international cricket amid sabbatical
Former Team India cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin claimed that if the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is called off this year amid COVID-19 crisis, it will probably going to be hard for MS Dhoni to make his comeback into the national side as it is not easy adding that 'practising and playing matches are two different things'.
IPL 2020 was to be the return of MS Dhoni. The wicketkeeper-batsman has not played a single match for Indian since the 2019 World Cup semi-finals exit.
"Dhoni can explain better than me about what he wants and it will be his personal decision. See as of now, the situation is not good and that is why IPL is not taking place and I feel it will take some time to get things sorted but for Dhoni, it is his personal decision," Azharuddin was quoted as saying ANI.
"Definitely, the selectors will look at the performance because playing after a long gap is not that easy, match practice is really important and it does not matter how big player you are, you have to play some matches. Practicing and playing matches are two different things," he added.
The 21-day lockdown which was scheduled to end on April 14 was further extended till May 3 by Primer Minister Narendra Modi as the number of coronavirus cases crossed 10,000 in India.
The COVID-19 outbreak has brought all sports activities to a halt and players are practising social distancing and self-isolation during the pandemic. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the governments all around are urging people to stay at home.
With the ICC 2020 T20 World Cup scheduled to take place later this year, Azharuddin said: "See, those who are attacking doctors and police team should be given hard punishment. When a doctor joins this profession, he/she takes an oath to save the lives of people."
"They are just doing their job and if someone is attacking them then they should be given very hard punishment then only people will understand."
"See we have to follow rules and regulations. People should not gather anywhere. We have to take every precaution as there is no vaccine for it. So, we have to practice social distancing," he added.
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 "Mohammad Azharuddin, MS Dhoni")
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