After the World Test Championship (WTC) final in Southampton, the Indian players will get a 20-day break from the bio-bubble life in England. The cricketers will disperse on June 24 but will return to the bubble around July 14 for the five-Test series against England. According to sources, the break will be helpful because the players will not only spend time in the bubble for the Test series against England but will also immediately relocate to the IPL bubble in the UAE following the Test series. Team India To Take Break From Bio-Bubble Life After WTC Final.
“The group will head off for the break on June 24 after the final against New Zealand and then regroup again around July 14 to prepare for the Test series against England which gets underway from August 4,” the source said.
When asked whether this meant the cricketers could go somewhere with low or negligible COVID-19 cases, the source said it had to be within the UK so that regrouping after the break would be easy.
“See, it is simple. The boys need to switch off and relax, but we cannot ignore that COVID-19 is still not completely gone. So, the travel plans have to be made in such a way that the boys and the families that are in UK don’t get stuck somewhere while taking the break. Imagine going to some other country and then that place gets a travel ban due to a sudden rise in cases. You don’t want your players or their families stuck. So, we are looking at places in the UK,” the source explained.
“I feel like it is a great opportunity to refresh and restructure after WTC,”- Virat Kohli
Living in the bio-bubble is difficult, as skipper Virat Kohli admitted before the team’s departure for England.
“I feel like after you are done with WTC, I think it is a great opportunity to refresh and restructure, hopefully, if things are okay, just for the guys to be normal and disconnect again, to understand that we have the pressure of a five-match series. Like in Australia, if we had to contest in a bubble for that long period, it would have been tough,” said Kohli. so Team India To Take Break From Bio-Bubble Life After WTC Final
“Just the fact that we had the freedom to go out and access the kind of things there, it gave us space to refresh and reset. I think it is absolutely fine, it will give us time to refresh and prepare for a long series. That kind of setup is important before you go to a lengthy series. The challenge in England can be daunting, so we want to have the time before that series,” he added.
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