New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Seifert’s world stopped for a moment and his heart sank after testing positive for the dreaded Covid-19 during the now suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
Seifert, who was a part of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), could not leave India with other Kiwi cricketers after he returned a positive test just 24 hours before leaving the country. Now after flying back home, he is presently undergoing a 14-day mandatory quarantine.
“I got pulled aside and told I’d tested positive and my heart sank straight away when everyone left. I was the only overseas player basically still left in India out of the whole tournament. That’s when things got a little bit real,” an emotional Seifert told the ‘New Zealand Herald’
“The world stops a little bit, I just couldn’t really think what was next and that’s the scary part of it you hear about things, and I thought that was going to happen to me.”
Seifert, however, insisted that his COVID-19 ordeal will not deter him from travelling to India again for future assignments.
“Talking to some of the English boys that were over there before the IPL everything that they were saying was doing well. You only kind of heard good things, the structures, all the plans that have been put in place,” Seifert was quoted as saying by New Zealand Herald.
Guys tim seifert is in tears plz don't cry we are always with you.#don'tcry #loveyou #EngvsNz #CancelIpl pic.twitter.com/bXw0wZ3xQG
— Yash Jain (@Kiwiyash_) May 25, 2021
“That was a good point of view for a player to go over there, and to be honest the whole time while I was over there (in India), the bubble felt good… felt safe.”
He also thanked former Kiwi stars Brendon McCullum and Stephen Fleming as well as KKR and Chennai Super Kings franchises for making life easier for him during his recovery period in Chennai.
“It definitely was hard and I couldn’t thank Brendan (McCullum) and (Stephen) Fleming enough, they made everything a lot easier.
“Making sure things would be put in place and KKR, CSK support staff, management – they made life easy for me to know that everything would be alright and when that time was to come home, they would do everything to get me home safely and on time,” he said.
Seifert, who has so far played 3 ODIs and 35 T20Is, said having a positive frame of mind was key to recovery from COVID-19.
“Once a few days had gone by, everything had kind of died down a little bit I knew it was a time of getting through it, looking at the positives. I’m getting married in two months so that’s exciting. My fiance Morgs she’s quite happy that I’m back a bit earlier so I can help plan for that.
“I’m lucky that having Covid has very minimal-mild symptoms. From having the virus and how I’m feeling…It’s more about the process of quarantining, being stuck in a room knowing that if I get it I could get it worse, other people could get it worse.” (indianexpress)