Featuring India's most revered cricketers such as Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, the BCCI has created a new video to promote wearing masks in public places and help the country battle the COVID-19 pandemic. The 'Team Mask Force' has been created to spread awareness about wearing masks in public places. "TeamIndia is now #TeamMaskForce! Join #IndiaFightsCorona and download @mygovindia's @SetuAarogya mobile application Mobile phone," the BCCI tweeted. "Being a part of India team is a matter of great pride. But today we are going to create a bigger team, Team Mask Force," Indian captain Kohli said in the video.
Hailing the move, the PM tweeted, "Among the most important tasks today -- be a part of #TeamMaskForce. Small but essential precautions can keep us all safe. Important to spread awareness about it."
Doing his bit, Tendulkar said, "Come on India, make masks and become part of mask force. And remember to wash hands for 20 seconds and maintain social distancing."
The video has messages from BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, Smriti Mandhana, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Harmanpreet Kaur, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Mithali Raj, all of them speaking about the importance of wearing masks and following the directives of the government in this fight.
"Becoming a part of Mask Force is very easy, just sit at home and make masks, like I made one for myself," Rohit said.
Earlier, the BCCI contributed Rs 51 crore to the Prime Ministers' Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund. The pandemic, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province, has so far claimed 496 lives and infected over 14500 people across the country.