Indian players can relax and recover comfortably: BCCI

Indian cricket team

With the ODI World Cup less than a fortnight away, Indian players have been given full freedom to spend the break the way they want to after a demanding tour of Australia, which ended on January 30 following their elimination from the Carlton Mid ODI tri-series. The BCCI, however, has said that the players need to make sure that they return to Adelaide on or before the evening of February 5.

Even though India lost the 4-match Test series 2-0, they were quite a few positives that the team could take, with the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli and Murali Vijay showing that they are capable of taking the mantle over from the retired batting legends. They were blanked in the ODI series, though, losing twice to England and once to Australia.

A top BCCI official was quoted by a Times of India report as saying, “We understand they are tired. We have booked them in a resort near Adelaide. They can switch off their mobile phones and relax and recover comfortably now. We actually had given them the option of checking into any resort in Australia, including a few good ones in Gold Coast."

He added: "A few players wanted to go to Melbourne or Sydney to meet their relatives, and we have allowed that. If someone wants to come back to India, he is welcome to do so, but since the team must assemble on the evening of February 5 in Adelaide, time is short."

A couple of days back, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly had asked for the players to be sent home so that they could come back rejuvenated. However, with the team scheduled to play two warm-up matches on February 8 and 10 against Australia and Afghanistan respectively, it wasn’t a feasible option.