Confronting scenes as IPL arrives in India's virus-ravaged capital
The Indian Premier League (IPL) came to the capital Delhi for the first time this season amid an eerie backdrop tinged in devastation caused by the Covid-19 crisis gripping the nation.
Chennai Super Kings beat bottom side Sunrisers Hyderabad to go top of the table after a match inside a largely empty Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Scores of police guarded the barricaded gates around ground, which would normally be packed with 40,000 people for major cricket games.
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However, these are far from normal times in the Indian capital, with Delhi accounting for more than a tenth of the coronavirus deaths recorded across India each day.
With daily figures this week of more than 350,000 cases and 2,750 deaths across the country, three Australian players have left their IPL teams in recent days.
Rajasthan Royals paceman Andrew Tye was lucky enough to get out of India and back home before Australian Prime Minster Scott Morrison announced a travel ban on Tuesday.
The federal government has halted all direct commercial and repatriation flights from India to Australia until May 15, with the measures set to be reviewed closer to that date.
Two other Aussie players, Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson, have been left stranded in Mumbai after being unable to leave the country before the travel ban came into effect.
Tye described the situation in Covid-ravaged India as "harrowing" and said players within the IPL biosecurity bubble had been largely sheltered from the horrors happening around the country.
With the Covid-19 death toll continuing to rise in India at an alarming rate and hospitals being overrun in many of the major cities, crematoriums have been forced to build makeshift funeral pyres to cremate the dead.
In Delhi for Wednesday night's IPL clash, patrols of police guarded the Arun Jaitley Stadium and enforced the strict night curfew that has been imposed on the capital, as well as tough daytime restrictions.
Only a handful of people were on the darkened streets around the stadium, kept empty as all IPL games have been this year.
Fans could only watch on television as Chennai raced past Sunrisers' 171 for four, with Ruturaj Gaikwad hitting 75 off 44 balls and his fellow opener Faf du Plessis smacking 56 off 38.
As the crisis grows, TV coverage is now regularly interrupted with appeals by commentators and pundits such as former Australian bowler Brett Lee and England spinner Graeme Swann for viewers to stay home and wear masks.
Lee has donated more than $50,000 to a fund to buy oxygen supplies for Indian hospitals.
"It saddens me deeply to see people suffering due to the ongoing pandemic," he said.
The IPL players are being moved around Indian cities in full PPE hazard suits with face masks. They are now tested every two days and cannot even order food from outside their bio-bubble hotels.
Players anxious amid India crisis
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has assured the players that they are "totally safe" but three Australians have left the IPL and many of the foreigners who remain say they are nervous.
"We are constantly talking about this situation that's unfolding outside of our bubble," said England and Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan this week.
"It's not nice to be honest, watching from afar, certainly considering how lucky we are to be in a bubble and not be affected by it very much."
The IPL bubbles will remain tightly sealed around the players for the rest of the tournament which ends on May 30.
Inside the empty stadium, Australia's David Warner went past 10,000 Twenty20 runs with his 57 for the Sunrisers.
The free-scoring Australian opener was highly critical of his own performance though, saying he took responsibility for the loss despite having scored his 57 in 55 balls as the struggling Sunrisers made 3-171 off their 20 overs.
Super Kings then breezed past the total for the loss of just three wickets with nine balls remaining as they moved back to the top of the IPL table.
Manish Pandey hit 61 and Kane Williamson and Kedhar Jadhav added 33 in the final 12 balls to boost the Hyderabad total, but Chennai were also ahead in their chase.
Du Plessis' quickfire innings made him the IPL's leading scorer this year with 260 runs from six matches.
Chennai lead the eight-team table with five wins from six games and a better net run-rate than Virat Kolhi's Royal Challengers Bangalore in second.
The same empty stadium will host reigning champions the Mumbai Indians against Rajasthan Royals on Thursday for Delhi's second game.
with agencies
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