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The recently-concluded U-19 Cricket World in West Indies proved to be quite a success as India clinched the trophy by defeating England in the grand finale. However, after the conclusion of mega-event, some shocking details about the arrangements and conduct of the tournament have been brought to notice which has left everyone stunned.
India had quite a troublesome campaign with many players testing positive for COVID-19 during the World Cup. And now, the key reason behind the same has now been revealed.
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India's manager Lobzang Tenzing recently opened up on the below-par arrangements and facilities provided to the team during the mega event. He admitted that while the bio-bubble was a joke, the organizers were absolutely lethargic.
“Tournament bio-bubble was a joke, the authorities were lethargic. It poses additional logistical issues and people were lethargic. Our time in Guyana was tough, to say the least. When I and my colleagues were down with COVID, no medical help was provided, no doctor, no medicines. Our team physio came to our rescue. It was like a system failure,” said Tenzing as quoted by The Indian Express.
He even went to reveal that there were no separate floors for teams in the hotel where they were staying. "We were staying on the same floor as other hotel guests. There was nobody to man the isolation period. The rooms did not have regular running water and players faced food issues. Luckily few Indian restaurants close by helped us on that front,” added Tenzing.
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“During practice games, the stadium had no water in the washrooms. I can safely say we state units and the BCCI do a much better job staging domestic events in a bio-secure environment,” concluded Tenzing.
These are indeed some huge allegations made by India's team manager against the tournament organizers and the authorities and ICC would be expected to look into the matter, to ensure that no such issues surface in a mega event like this going forward.