The Indian cricket team have expressed their reluctance to travel to Brisbane to play the fourth Test if further restrictions are placed in movement of the players.
India and Australia are set to play the third Test at Sydney in New South Wales. However, Queensland has shut its border with the region due to inflated cases of COVID-19 there.
Due to a recent spike in coronavirus cases in New South Wales, Cricket Australia were contemplating moving the third Test out of Sydney. But eventually they stuck to the original schedule.
Team India fear that their movement would be completely shut in Brisbane. They have expressed their desire to play the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Sydney, reported NDTV.
The development comes after five Indian cricketers – Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Navdeep Saini and Prithvi Shaw – were kept in isolation after a video of them emerged eating out.
It had come to notice that the cricketers had “hugged” a fan while dining out in Melbourne, where team India are currently lodged before the third Test against Australia begin in Sydney on January 7.
Even though the cricketers are allowed to dine out, the bio-bubble rules set by CA state that strict social distancing needs to be maintained. The team members have also been directed to avoid indoor places outside the bubble.
The BCCI and the Australian board have started a joint investigation to check if the players are guilty of breaching the biosecurity protocols.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) were today alerted to a video posted on social media that purported to show Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini eating at an outdoor venue in Melbourne on New Year’s day,” the media release read.
“The BCCI and CA are investigating the matter and seeking to determine whether the outing constitutes a breach of biosecurity protocols.”
“In the interim, on the advice of the Australian and Indian medical teams, the aforementioned players have been placed in isolation as a precaution. This will include separating the group of players from the broader Indian and Australian squads when traveling and at the training venue,” the CA release added.