The Tour Will Also Have Shortened Quarantine Period:
The Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly said Saturday that the national team would tour Australia in December but called for a shorter quarantine time for the players. Australia has monitored the spread of coronavirus, except in Melbourne, its second-largest city, which has experienced a recent increase in cases.
“Ya, well, we’ve verified the tour. We’ll be coming in December. We ‘re only hoping that the number of quarantine days will be reduced a bit,” Ganguly said to the leading media house. “Because we don’t want the players to go all that far and stay in hotel rooms for two weeks, it’s very, very boring and frustrating” added Ganguly.
“And, like I said, Australia and New Zealand have been in a decent spot with the exception of Melbourne. So, from that point of view, we ‘re going to be there and hopefully the quarantine days will be less and we can get back to cricket.”
Through Friday, Australia, a country of 25 million, had reported just over 9,000 COVID-19 deaths, of which 106 were fatal. The West Indies squad spent 14 days in quarantine after landing in England on the 9th of June for a three-test tour that began on the 8th of July, marking the return of international cricket.
Virat Kohli’s India is scheduled to tour Australia for four test matches in December-January. India won the 4-Test Series in Australia 2-1 in 2018-19. “It’s going to be a difficult game. It’s not going to be what it was two years ago. It’s going to be a strong Australia, but our team is just as sweet,” Ganguly said.
“It’s going to be a difficult game. It’s not going to be what it was two years ago. It’s going to be a strong Australia, but our team is just as sweet,” Ganguly said.
“We’ve got the batting, we’ve got the bowling. We just need to fight better. We’ve got the best overseas team to fight well. When we were so successful in England, Australia, Pakistan, we got 400-500-600 in Test matches. I said that to Virat as well.”
Two years ago, India ‘s Test Series Victory was their first in Australia after 71 years of testing. But Australia had no top batsmen, David Warner, and Steve Smith, both of whom had missed the series due to their bans on ball-tampering.
Ganguly backed his side in order to win under Kohli ‘s leadership. “Because you are Virat Kohli, your expectations are high. When you go out to play, when you go out with your team, I, watching TV, don’t expect you to play well against Australia. I expect you to win,” said the former Indian captain.
“So you’ve got to live up to the standards. For his tenure as captain, this will be a milestone series — more than the World Cup. And you’ve got to live up to the mark. It’s going to be a landmark series for his captain ‘s tenure — more than the World Cup.” Meanwhile, the Indian Premier League is also looking for a window this season, and Ganguly said he doesn’t want 2020 to “finish without the IPL.”
This month, the International Cricket Council will decide on the future of the T20 World Cup, scheduled for October-November in Australia, and Ganguly said that the decision would have an effect on the fate of the IPL.
