The Indian cricket team which is all set to play the third test match against Australia at Sydney starting 7th January 2021 is quite apprehensive of travelling to Brisbane for the fourth test match as they will need to go under harder quarantine over there. The fourth and final test match of the series is slated to start from January 15 at The Gabba, Brisbane, and the Indian team management has made it clear to Cricket Australia that they want some freedom.
The Indian cricketers have been out of the country for some time now as earlier they played the IPL 2020 in UAE and after that, they straightaway went to Australia for playing 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is and 4 test matches. All this time, the Indian players are following the bio-bubble protocol and they have spent total 28 days in their hotel rooms (14 days quarantine in Dubai and 14 days in Sydney).
While talking to a cricket portal, an Indian official states that after undergoing quarantine in Dubai and Sydney, now they don’t want to undergo quarantine when the tour is nearing its end. As per him, the Indian management has suggested that instead of travelling to some other city, they will prefer to play both the test matches in one city and leave for India after the fourth test match. He further says that they completely understand the situation is quite complex as of now but they have also cooperated with Cricket Australia completely and they just want to be treated as normal Australians.
The official concludes by saying that the Indian cricketers have been in various types of lockdown for the last six months now and it was certainly not easy for them. He adds that the Indian team is one of the two teams which had no issues while on tour during the times of the coronavirus pandemic and after following the rules in a proper manner for such a long time, they don’t want to be in quarantine in Brisbane.
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