India’s tour of Australia needs to be reworked, series likely to begin in Adelaide or Brisbane
Though India’s tour of Australia will go ahead later this year, the entire schedule needs to be rejigged after the Western Australia state government confirmed that they won’t relax their quarantine protocols. So, India’s tour Down Under will kickstart either in Adelaide or Brisbane.
As per ESPNcricinfo, the Adelaide Oval is set to host back-to-back Test matches, including a day-night game as well as the famous Boxing Day Test starting December 26. This will, however, be the case if the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is not available because of the increasing coronavirus cases in the state of Victoria.
What will make things more complicated is that the Indian and Australian players will be coming directly from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is going through a second wave of Covid-19 cases.
“We didn’t think it was acceptable to have the team return from a high-risk overseas location and then take part in normal training activities outside of quarantine, before flying out to another state to play games.
"There were just too many risks in the model put forward by Cricket Australia. We need to remain vigilant and do the right thing by all Western Australians and not take unnecessary chances,” Mark McGowan, the Premier of the WA state government was quoted as saying in the report.
Both India and Australia had planned to train in Perth
Both the Australian players, who are currently touring England, and the Indian team were supposed to set up base and train in Perth. This was after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had requested Cricket Australia (CA) to let the Indian players train in a bio-secure bubble while staying in quarantine.
But, the Western Australia state government’s strict guidelines on hotel quarantine will throw cold water on any such plans.
“We acknowledge the WA government has a firm position on quarantine and border arrangements. The Australian men’s team will not be quarantining in Perth upon their return from the UK,” a CA spokesperson said.
The four Test matches will be preceded by a T20I series, the revised schedule of which will be released by CA this week.