Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke toIndia's top sportspersons such as India captain Virat Kohli, BCCI presidentSourav Ganguly and batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, amid a national lockdown tocombat the rapidly-spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

Atotal of 49 athletes, along with sports minister Kiren Rijiju, haveparticipated in the video call.

Accordingto a source of sports ministry, of the total athletes, 12 have been given threeminutes each to speak and present their view.

Dueto the lockdown of 21 days amid the coronavirus outbreak, all sportingactivities are currently shut in the country and it is still not clear whennormalcy will resume. The much-anticipated Indian Premier League (IPL) is amongthe big-ticket Indian events suspended till April 15.

When Ganguly was asked about the development thismorning, he said, "Yes, I will be joining our Honourable PM via video call. ButI cannot tell you what will be discussed." The ministry source said theathletes have been requested to spread awareness about social distancingthrough their social media pages.

"The PM will ask them to pass across the message of maintaining the lockdown. He will urge them to post videos to keep people occupied," the source revealed.

Cricketers form a major chunk of the participatinglist.

Apart from Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Kohli, others who are participating include World Cup-winning former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, former pacer Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, and K L Rahul.

Olympic silver medallist shuttler P V Sindhu, javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, chess wizard Viswanathan Anand, sprinter Hima Das, boxing stars MC Mary Kom and Amit Panghal, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, and teenage shooting sensation Manu Bhaker are among the other accomplished athletes who are participating in the video call.