A psychologist to be a part of RCB’s support staff for IPL 2020

In October 2019, the Royal Challengers Bangalore made an unprecedented move that literally changed the schematics of IPL history as they became the first team in the IPL to appoint a woman to the support staff. Much like the steps that everyone is taking these days to prevent the spread of the virus by maintaining cleanliness, sanitization and social distancing; mental health is another important factor that needs to be addressed.

Speaking to the news agency TOI, the Chairman of RCB Sanjeev Churiwala revealed that the management believes mental health to be one of the essential things, and when the lockdowns were imposed, RCB recruited a psychologist in Dr. Chaitanya Sridhar and a team doctor in Dr. Charles Minz while restructuring the support staff of the team.

"As a large corporate organisation, we know the importance of investing in critical areas like mental health. About five months ago we hired a psychologist and team doctor and it has worked wonderfully well. They continuously stayed in touch with the players. While the senior players understand coping mechanisms better, our focus during the lockdown was on the young and domestic players. We at RCB care as much about the mental health as we do about the physical well-being of the players," Mr Churiwala told TOI.

The team is also following the work from home routine. Both Director Mike Hesson and Head Coach Simon Katich have been workingclosely with the management through digital means. The camaraderie between coaching staff and management has been the whole plus point here.

"Since the Covid crisis began, we set up a digital platform to stay connected. Mike Hesson(director, cricket operations) and Simon Katich (head coach) and the rest of us have done a lot of work over the last four months to ensure the team bonds," said Mr Churiwala.

Mike Hesson has always been a coach who looks into the game from various perspectives. 

"Mike is the end-to-end cricket in charge. He is involved with the system 24x7 and is working very hard on the season ahead," said Mr Churiwala.

"Clearly priorities begin with safety and nothing comes before or after. We should keep in mind that even if one player from any franchise tests positive, it affects the entire league. Hence, we must be very careful with the way the bio-bubble works and we want to ensure 100% compliance,” added Mr Churiwala.

When asked about players taking their families with them to the UAE for IPL 2020, he concluded by stating, "Most of the players are not travelling with families. A few are thinking about travelling with the family because they will have to go through the same protocols as the players and have to be in the bio-bubble. So, it’s their personal decision.”

[TOI inputs]