Cricket Australia's Interim Chief Executive Officer, Nick Hockley on Monday clarified that India has not said anything formally regarding the fourth Test match at Brisbane and as of now, the series will go ahead as planned.
Australia and India will face each other in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3 and then both sides will travel to Brisbane for the fourth Test, set to begin from January 15. However, as per a report in Cricbuzz, India has expressed their unwillingness to travel to Brisbane for the fourth Test if they are confined to their hotel rooms when they are not playing or training.
"We've had nothing formal from the BCCI to suggest anything other than they are supportive. We speak to our counterparts in the BCCI daily and we have clarified in the last 24 hours what the precise requirements are in Brisbane," cricket.com.au quoted Hockley as saying.
"There has been some reporting that players will be confined to their rooms -- that's not the case. Typically for a Test match, players arrive at the ground between 8 am and 9 am and they are there until 6 or 7 at night, and then it's back to the hotel to rest and recuperate and they will be able to mix within their groups. So everyone's fully across that, and supportive," he added.
Elaborating further, Hockley said: "As we've said all summer, we've been consistent, we want to play the Tests as scheduled and we've been working really constructively with Queensland Health. I have to say they've been absolutely fantastic, we've put in place arrangements here in Sydney and in Brisbane that are appropriate with the environment. And we're all systems go for the third Test here in Sydney and the fourth Test at the Gabba in Brisbane."
Cricket Australia on Saturday had said that Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, and Navdeep Saini have been put in isolation as a precautionary measure after these five players were seen eating at an indoor venue in Melbourne on New Year's Day.
But both Indian and Australian contingents tested negative for coronavirus and both parties travelled to Sydney for the third Test on Monday.
With reports coming in that the Indian squad is not too keen to travel to Queensland if strict quarantine protocols need to be followed, the state's Health Shadow Minister Ros Bates also said that rules need to be followed. Also, Queensland's Shadow Sports Minister Tim Mander said that "same rules must apply for everyone", adding that the Indian team should not come if they do not want to abide by the rules.
Cricket Australia on Wednesday had informed that the hosts will train in Melbourne on January 2 and 3 before moving to Sydney on January 4. The third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Test Series between India and Australia will be telecasted Live and Exclusive on Sony Six, Sony Ten 3 (Hindi), and Sony Ten 1 channels from January 7, 2020, 5.00 am onwards.
India had levelled the four-match series against Australia after securing an eight-wicket win in the Boxing Day Test.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
