'Don't wander out, stay inside' - Ravichandran Ashwin shares his Mankad picture with Jos Buttler, suggests people to abide by 21-day lockdown

These are unprecedented times, isn’t it? The whole world is embroiled by the menace that is the World Health Organization-declared pandemic Coronavirus COVID-19. The number of casualties and reported cases are increasing by the minute.

Schools, colleges, offices, malls, sports, library, gyms- everything has been put on a backburner. Social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine are the most talked-about words on social media. More than 100 countries have been affected by the virus, which originated from the Wuhan city of china last year.

In the wake of the escalating situation, the Indian government is taking the strongest measures. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narender Modi addressed the nation once again to declare that the entire country will be under lockdown for the upcoming 21 days.

Post, Modi’s speech, public figures from all walks of life are urging people to embrace the lockdown and stay within the confines of their home. One of the images that people are using on social media to encourage everyone to stay home, is of Ravichandran Ashwin running out Jos Buttler at the non-striker end in the last edition of the Indian Premier League.

Ravichandran Ashwin reminisces the Mankading incident

With it being the first anniversary of that infamous incident, Ashwin, himself took to Twitter to ask citizens that the image is a good reminder to the citizens to not wander out as the nation goes into lockdown.

“Hahaha, somebody sent me this and told me it’s exactly been 1 year since this run out happened. As the nation goes into lockdown, this is a good reminder to my citizens. Don’t wander out. Stay inside, stay safe!”

Meanwhile, in the wake of the escalating situations, several Indian cricketers including captain Virat Kohli have taken to social media, urging their fans to stay inside as the country aims to flatten the steadily increasing Coronavirus curve.

Virat, along with his wife and Bollywood star Anushka Sharma posted a video on Twitter where he wrote: “These are testing times and we need to wake up to the seriousness of this situation. Please let us all follow what’s been told to us and stand united, please. It’s a plea to everyone.”