Cricketers during shutdown: India's Rohit Sharma and Pakistan's Babar Azam spread awareness

A look at how top players across the world are utilising their time away from cricket

India’s Rohit Sharma bats during the third Twenty20 cricket match between New Zealand and India at Seddon Park in Hamilton on January 29, 2020. / AFP / MICHAEL BRADLEY

For the first time in, like, forever we don’t have any sport. It’s an alien concept which we never thought would become a reality.

While the world is battling a much more serious challenge in the coronavirus pandemic, the sporting world has its own, comparatively smaller, issue of having nothing to do or see for the foreseeable future.

Just as a number of sports enthusiasts – who are not in the eye of the pandemic storm – are looking at ways to fill up a sizeable hole in their daily life, players too have suddenly been given an unexpected break.

While players like Shikhar Dhawan and Andre Russell have kept up with their fitness programme, as have other cricketers, those like Rohit Sharma, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez decided to spread awareness about the dangers of the pandemic and what the public needs to do to stop it from causing further serious damage.

For India batsman KL Rahul, it was a perfect time to spend time with his pet dog.

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It was off to the golf course for England all-rounder Ben Stokes.

Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan decided having an outdoor barbeque was the way to go.

Dhawan and Russell showed that there is no time to rest for a top-level athlete, even during a pandemic.