• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Babar Azam Reiterates Ravi Shastris Stand On Bio Bubble And Mental Health

Babar Azam reiterates Ravi Shastri’s stand on bio-bubble and mental health

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has reiterated the thoughts of former India coach Ravi Shastri who said in the last game that bio-bubbles have been extremely difficult for Indian players. He had stated at the pre-match interview with Ian Bishop yesterday that the Indian players have been mentally and physically drained, shifting bubbles constantly since the last six months. Shastri, who has a stellar record as a coach in international cricket said that it was high time that the players went on the break.

"Look they are always ups and downs in professional cricket but yes players do get disturbed and uncomfortable by remaining constantly in a bio-secure bubble environment," Babar Azam spoke ahead of Pakistan’s clash against Australia in the semi finals of the T20 World Cup.

"As a player, you need to relax and be ready to absorb the pressure. But at times when things are not going well, you need space and you need to refresh, go out,” he further added. 

Pakistan have been one of the most travelled teams after the onset of COVID-19 and have toured all across the globe including the countries with strict regulations such as  in England and New Zealand.

Azam spoke about the mental health side of things while living in a bio-bubble for an extended period of time and said that it is a spiral once negative thoughts enter your mind.

"If you can't get out of the bubble, negative thoughts do enter your mind and affect your performances," he explained.

He stated that Pakistan try to counter the same working as a unit and talk to each other through the hardships. His statement comes right after the decision that the Pakistan team will be travelling directly to Bangladesh to play an international tour after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup.



Discover more

Top Stories
news

Azeem hasn’t done anything for personal gain: Moeen Ali expects thorough changes after Yorkshire incident

The Yorkshire County Cricket Club revelations shook the cricket world earlier this week. The ongoing saga about the systematic racism across all levels of the club made headlines for all the wrong reasons, with the entire cricketing community calling out the club for its botched handling of the investigation. A movement started by former club captain Azeem Rafiq in 2020, Yorkshire have been criticised time and again for their way of dealing with things. For example, in the investigation report, the club claimed that racial slurs from a Yorkshire player was ‘friendly banter’ and should have been taken in the same spirit. Speaking from the UAE to ESPNcricinfo, England international Moeen Ali extended his support to Rafiq and stated that his actions would encourage a lot of players to speak out against racism. "I wouldn't say I'm surprised but there's probably more stories out there that people haven't heard of," Moeen said. "The fact it's come out is great because, going forward, people [will] have to think about what they can or can't say in terms of discriminating against people and knowing what people feel and go through." The left handed batsman said that destigmatising mental health was the need of the hour and said that Rafiq’s persistence would be aiding that conversation. "What Azeem has done, he is not doing it for any personal gain, I think he wants change and that's what he's pushing for.” Ali said that the unfolding of the saga had become a part of “open discussion” in the English dressing room and that the team is taking learnings from these conversations. Everybody has a story in our changing room about their own background and it helps with people coming from all different parts of the world as well," he added. "Massive credit goes to the coaches and Eoin Morgan for really pushing it so that everybody's just normal with each other. It just feels like home to be honest with you."