Beyond the boundary

(This article is part of our special series Unmasking Southasia: The pandemic issue. You can read the editorial note to the series here.)

The pace at which it shut down across the world was staggering.

In Colombo, the England Test side were in the midst of their weeks-long preparation for a Test series against Sri Lanka – a tour their backroom staff had spent months planning for. At the start of their four-day warm-up match at the P Sara Oval on 12 March 2020, hopes remained high that the tour would be played as scheduled. But news on the spread of the pandemic in England quickly turned dire. On the morning of 13 March, two days after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, England's players told team management they would prefer to return home, fearing not only for their families, but also the closing of international borders, which would leave the team stranded abroad. England captain Joe Root was fielding that afternoon, when he was asked to leave the ground to be told the tour was off. Minutes later, official confirmation of the tour's abandonment came. Within an hour, the ground had been enclosed with covers, kit bags had been packed away, and an entire sport was mothballed.

In the early weeks of global lockdowns, while dry rations were being bought in bulk and day-wage earners began to face a multitude of hardships, cricket's absence did feel trivial. Of what consequence was a bat-and-ball game when the health of millions, and the livelihoods of many more, were cast into uncertainty? In Pakistan, the nation's flagship T20 franchise tournament (the Pakistan Super League) was nearing its climax in mid-March. The tournament was being played within Pakistan in its entirety for the first time, as high-profile international cricket had been halted in the country since the 2009 Lahore attack, when a bus carrying the Sri Lanka national team came under gunfire by a militant group. But as Pakistan became the first Southasian country to see a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, the nation's cricket board was forced to postpone the tournament with only four matches left to play. The games were eventually resumed in November. In India, even the almighty Indian Premier League (IPL) – the most lucrative annual tournament cricket has ever seen – was forced into a postponement. There was no significant protest from fans. Most had bigger concerns.