Melbourne: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly strongly feels that Indian cricketers should be accompanied by their families for the upcoming tour of Australia. Otherwise the mental health of the Indian cricketers will suffer. Without families, they will have to be alone in an IPL bio-bubble for nearly 80 days. “They (players) have already been living in a bubble for the last 80 days due to the IPL,” Sourav Ganguly told ‘The Age’.
“I don’t see a reason why the families won’t be allowed to come. The Australian cricket board is trying to accommodate the families. It should be okay,” Ganguly said.
There appears to be some issues to be settled between the BCCI and Cricket Australia on the bio-security measures the host nation has devised. However, Ganguly said the Indian team will travel to Sydney immediately after the IPL ends November 10.
“So far it is ahead. The initial part will be in Sydney. We are still in discussions how to get the bio-bubble part and medical parts stronger because it’s a long tour,” Ganguly stated. “But I am told Australia is COVID-19 free at the moment, there aren’t many cases. Basically, we are trying to get everything in place and make sure it is safe. That’s all,” the BCCI president added.
Ganguly also said that they have requested CA to ensure that players can train during the 14-day quarantine period. “We have requested that because they have been in the IPL for a long time (in the UAE). Then they go straight from the IPL to Australia because there is a 14-day quarantine. It will be solved,” he assured.
Sydney and Canberra are likely to host the white ball leg of three T20Is and as many ODIs. The four-match Test series is starting with a D/N pink-ball match in Adelaide from December 17. Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney are the venues of the other three Tests.
Ganguly, however, refused to speculate on India captain Virat Kohli potentially missing out a Test. This is because he and his wife Anushka Sharma are expecting their first child. “This is a personal question. I don’t like to comment and I have not asked him,” Ganguly said.
CA had originally planned to have the white-ball series after the Test series. Asked about this, Ganguly said, “It’s just about the timing to get everything accommodated. There is Boxing Day Test, New Year’s Day Test, all these remain on schedule. Then India come back and play against England straightaway for the Test series and one-day series,” he stated.
The former India captain is also hoping his ‘Super Series’ plan for an annual ODI series tournament between India, Australia and England would go ahead once COVID-19 issues were resolved.
“It hasn’t gone anywhere because of COVID-19. We don’t know what is going to happen in the next six, seven months. A lot of tournaments and series have been cancelled so that needs to be rescheduled,” he said.