Wives to join Indian players for the third Test against Australia: Reports

MS Dhoni with his wife, Sakshi

According to media reports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has permitted wives of Indian cricketers to join them in Australia. The cricketers are currently involved in a four-match Test series against Australia, which finishes on January 10. Following that, India will play a tri-nation tournament involving Australia and England, and the tour will culminate with them defending their World Cup crown in February.

Following the dismal tour of England, the board decided to limit the presence of wives and girlfriends (WAGs) on overseas tours, but they’ve now decided to allow the wives to join the players. Virat Kohli, in particular, was criticised heavily in England for apparently spending a lot of time with his girlfriend Anushka Sharma, especially due to his return of just 134 runs from five Tests at an appalling average of 13.40.

The likes of MS Dhoni, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan and Ravichandran Ashwin could have their wives by their side before the start of the Boxing Day Test on December 26 as a result of the BCCI’s relaxation of rules.

The Indians are currently 2-0 down in the series, and head to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday hoping to turn the tables on the Australians and make a comeback into the series.

Despite an exceptional innings from Virat Kohli in the fourth innings at Adelaide, they went down by 48 runs to hand Australia a 1-0 lead in the series.

Heading into Brisbane for the second Test, India were boosted by the return of regular skipper MS Dhoni to the playing XI and had Australia in a bit of a bother early on. But a terrific partnership between Steven Smith and Mitchell Johnson in Australia’s first innings and then a fine spell of bowling from Johnson in India’s second innings meant that the Indians had only 127 to defend in the final innings. Despite a stutter, the Aussies reached the target with four wickets in hand to take a 2-0 lead in the series.