India Not Keen on Travelling to Brisbane for Fourth Test: Report

Team India at a training session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

(Photo Courtesy: BCCI)

The Indian cricket team are not very keen on travelling to Brisbane for the fourth Test against Australia, citing the coronavirus restrictions in Queensland that could be imposed upon them, according to a report in Cricbuzz.

India are not very keen to go to Brisbane if the bubble becomes less porous which will limit them to moving between the hotel and stadium only. The visitors have been very clear since arriving in Australia that once they were done with their initial 14-day quarantine at the start of the tour, they be treated as anyone else around Australia in terms of freedom of movement.

"If you look at it, we were quarantining for 14 days in Dubai before landing in Sydney and doing so for another 14 days. That means we were in a hard bubble for nearly a month before coming out. What we don't want now is to quarantine again at the end of the tour," a source in the Indian team was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

The report also said that while the visitors have been cooperative with the protocols that Cricket Australia (CA) and the different state governments have laid out for them, they don't want to be "shunted around" now and would prefer playing the last two Test matches at the same venue.

"We aren't keen on going to Brisbane if it means being stuck in the hotel again, except for going to the ground. Instead we don't mind being in some other city, playing both Test matches there to complete the series and returning home," he added.

Currently as per the schedule, India will travel to Sydney on Monday (4 January) ahead of the third Test at the SCG beginning 7 January. Following the Test, India will receive exemptions along with some of the broadcast staff to travel into Queensland on a chartered flight, despite the state having shut its borders to New South Wales, which still hasn't recovered from the northern beaches Covid-19 outbreak from four weeks back. Unless the border situation changes, India are looking at hotel quarantine of the sort they’re keen to avoid.

"We understand the complexity of what's happening currently. Cricket Australia and we have cooperated at every step with regards to following the protocols within the bubble. But we were expecting to be treated in the same vein as 'normal Australians' in terms of restrictions once we completed that initial quarantine in Sydney."

"All we're saying is the boys have been in various states of lockdowns and bubbles for nearly six months now. And it's not been easy for anyone. If you look at it, we are one of only two teams who have had zero issues while being on a tour during this pandemic. After all this time, what we don't want is to be sent into another hard bubble, which seems will be the case in Brisbane."

This comes on the back of five Indian players being put in isolation as a precautionary measure for a possible bubble breach in Melbourne, which both boards are investigating.