Agree with Sachin Tendulkar, need to handle COVID-19 situation like a Test match: Brendon McCullum

Former New Zealand captain and the present head coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Brendan McCullum on Friday echoed the words of former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in saying that the COVID-19 situation should be approached like a Test match - session by session to ensure that the day is well planned. 

The deadly virus has brought the world to a standstill with the Indian Premier League (IPL) also getting postponed. Tendulkar recently spoke about approaching these difficult times with a session-by-session approach.

"I agree with Sachin. I think you know we need to just try and break this down, and try and look at it in isolation every time -- just small steps like in a session by session (scenario). Deal with every day, make sure your days are well planned, well structured," McCullum told Knights Unplugged on www.kkr.in.

"I think that's the best thing from what we've tried to do in our family as well. Every day, write a bit of a plan of what we're going to try to tick off and what we're going to try and achieve. Funnily enough we've done it around meal times -- breakfast together, lunch together and then dinner together.

"Additionally, just sort of tick off some jobs outside, whether it's cleaning out your wardrobes or whether its cleaning the roof or doing all the gutters or whatever, there's always something to be done. Just as Sachin said, play it like a Test match and break it down into sessions," added the 38-year old.

On how he is dealing with the present situation, the ace stumper batsman said: "Well I guess we are all dealing with it in different ways, and every country has its own issues at the moment.

"It has definitely passed things slowly. I'm trying to enjoy the time that I'm getting at home with the family, because in a funny way, we are all forced to really spend a lot of time with our loved ones which is fantastic.

"We probably don't stop and take as much time to appreciate that. When we are on the other side of this pandemic and hopefully, we haven't lost too many lives, and things are returning to normal in the schedule of all of us cricket coaches, commentators and people all around involved in the game, it's going to get pretty intense.

"So I'm trying to just enjoy the break for now."

McCullum has been following KKR's new strength and condition trainer Chris Donaldson's workout regimes quite diligently.

"If you're going to do a little bit of crime, you've got to do some time too! That's exactly why Chris Donaldson, our trainer, who is also the New Zealand team's trainer and a former Olympics sprinter, has been setting up sessions for all the (KKR) players," he said.

"I've sort of figured that as a coach, I can't ask others to do what you're not prepared to do yourself. So whilst I can't do them as well as the players can, I can still put in a little bit of effort.

"I've also heard that the shirts this year -- all our practice shirts and coaches shirts -- are going to be very, very tight, so I need to make sure I'm not too fat as we head into the season!"