IPL 2021: "We don't take any resources from the frontline" - Pat Cummins not in favor of ending tournament
Pat Cummins, who recently donated $50,000 towards India’s Covid-19 relief efforts, believes that canceling the ongoing IPL will not solve any problems. He noted that the tournament doesn’t utilize any resources from the frontline and hopes it offers relief for at least a few hours a day as the country grapples with the deadly virus.
Over the last week, India has consistently recorded over 3,00,000 new cases everyday. In the last 24 hours, 3,79,257 cases were reported - the highest in the last 30 days.
“I don’t think so. We are doing everything, we don’t take any resources from the frontline. There is an aspect that us playing for three or four hours hopefully contributes to making people stay at home,” Cummins said in an exclusive interview with WION.
Pat Cummins is hopeful that the upcoming vaccination drive in India will help minimize the impact of the second wave of the pandemic, and future waves as well.
“It has certainly been a big topic of conversation as to how we can help. Kolkata Knight Riders have been leading that on what we can do, we can talk about vaccinations, be widely available to the public in the next couple of weeks. So we can hopefully encourage people to do as much to minimise this initial wave and future waves as well,” he added.
Pat Cummins says the response to his donation has been overwhelming
Pat Cummins acknowledged that he was overwhelmed with the response on social media following his donation. He hopes that this initiative also helps bring more awareness among people.
“It has been quite overwhelming (the response on social media). Just trying to help a little bit. The response by cricketers and people outside the cricket community has been huge. As much as the money, hopefully, the awareness, helping people to stay home and keep up the morale in tough times make a bit of difference,” Cummins said.
Further talking about his donation to the PM Cares fund, Pat Cummins said:
“Just chatting with a couple of guys here at Kolkata Knight Riders and they have been really generous in their donation to the PM CARES fund over the last year. (Team owner and Bollywood superstar) Shahrukh (Khan) donated (money) himself and that is the way to go.”
Pat Cummins also stated that he will try to make further contributions in this fight against the coronavirus.