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A BCCI official has revealed that they had sent a formal letter to Cricket Australia seeking relaxation from a rigid quarantine if India play the fourth Test match in Brisbane. He said their demands are relatively simple as the Indian team want to mingle with each other at the team hotel to have their meals and team meetings together.
The last Test has been embroiled in controversy ever since reports from Australia emerged that India are thinking of pulling out of the series after the Sydney Test. The BCCI official revealed that they are in talks with their Australian counterparts.
"The discussions are still on, but today BCCI has formally sent a letter seeking relaxation of hard quarantine for its players if they are to have the match in Brisbane. The MoU that was signed never mentioned about two hard quarantines. India have done one hard quarantine in Sydney (practice and back to the hotel room)," said the BCCI official.
"The BCCI's demand is simple. The players want to mingle with each other inside the hotel bio-bubble like they did in the IPL. They want to have their meals together inside the hotel and also have the team meetings together. That's not a big demand," the BCCI official added.
Under current circumstances, quarantine rules will restrict the players to their hotel rooms, and they wouldn't be allowed to meet each other in the hotel premises. Even during match day, players will return to their rooms straight from the cricket ground.
Why are India being subjected to this hard quarantine?
Queensland state officials announced a new hard lockdown after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel in Brisbane tested positive for the new highly contagious U.K. variant of COVID-19.
Brad Haddin slams India
Meanwhile, former Australia wicket-keeper Brad Haddin decided to take a pot-shot at the Indian team for their reluctance to accept the rules and play at Brisbane.
"From a cricket point of view, why would India want to go to the Gabba? No one wins at the Gabba, Australia plays really good cricket there, and no one's won for a really long time (besides the Aussies). There's a lot of moving parts here. The one thing is these guys have been in a bubble for a long, long time and they might just start to be getting a little bit tired" said Haddin.
It remains to be seen whether Cricket Australia would budge on India's demands or not. As per some reports, the final Test might be played in Sydney but at the moment, it seems like a far-fetched reality. The fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is scheduled to start from 15 January.
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