Good Bad Ugly ft. Cricket Australia's bold step, Dutee Chand's Facebook post and a careless Jofra Archer

The Good

The cricketers are stranded inside domestic space for the past four months, which could give rise to more mental-health related issues as stated by CA’s high-performance chief Drew Ginn. The decision has been taken in the wake of mental breakdowns suffered by the Victorian trio of Glenn Maxwell, Will Pucovski and Nic Maddinson last year, while CA too have been vocal about the mental health of players in the past. Even though players from other countries have not reported such cases, mental health is an aspect which should be taken more seriously.

Lungi Ngidi was heavily criticised for his statement last week, where he urged his fellow cricketers to stand together in wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. Boeta Dippenaar, Pat Symcox and Rudi Steyn publicly were among the most prominent faces to raise their voice against the post made by the speedster, while many backed him, including teammate Tabriaz Shamsi. Director of Cricket South Africa, Graeme Smith, sang along the same tune and promised to ‘take the knee’ before the start of the 3TC Solidarity Cup, in Centurion, this Saturday.

Makhaya Ntini, along with 30 other players signed a statement in support of the BLM movement, which says racism still prevails in the African nation. As promised, everyone present inside the SuperSport Park in Centurion took the knee ahead of the three-team tournament this Saturday. Graeme Smith was spotted beside Makhaya Nitini during the same, which was a cherry of the cake. The incident just put to rest all the mishap that has thronged the social media in the past couple of weeks.

Indian sports stuck in a pandemic dilemma

Getting over the lockdown hasn’t been easy under any circumstances, while it has been more than painful for athletes even more. With more than four months out of action, the sports associations, with their wholehearted efforts, are trying to take strides towards normalcy but things aren’t ready to die down soon. In spite of several attempts to kick-start the shooting training camp, the NRAI has failed to do so, with many reluctant to travel at this point in time where Covid-19 cases are shooting up exponentially.

Dutee Chand dents her legacy over Facebook post

With Indian sports largely stalled, this entry has been a rather surprising one, but it’s ‘bad’ nevertheless. The Internet broke loose when Dutee Chand, one of India’s most decorated athletes put her BMW up for sale citing she needed financial assistance to fund her training for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The post circulated within a blink, while the Odisha government stormed into the scene, following which she deleted the Facebook post. She later clarified that it was becoming a heckle to maintain a luxurious car and could use the proceeds for her training purposes.

The Ugly

Jofra Archer gets dragged into controversy - once again

The England fast bowler thus breached the bio-secure protocols in place, which cost him a place in the second Test at Old Trafford. The speedster will now be in isolation for five days during which he will be undergoing two COVID-19 tests. If each of the tests are negative, the self-isolation period will be lifted and will be eligible to be picked up for the third Test. Even though Jofra Archer apologised for the incident, it was very irresponsible on his part, especially with the pandemic situation worsening.

Makhaya Ntini bowls bouncer off the field

Ntini played alongside other greats of the game like Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Graeme Smtih and Jaques Kallis but claimed that he was ‘forever lonely’ during his playing days. Recalling past experiences, Ntini went on to lament on how he teammates used to avoid him while making plans, sitting in front of him and nobody came to sit with him on the breakfast table. Many cricketers have been public regarding the racist slurs they’ve faced in the past and we hope there are no additions to it.