The five players – vice captain Rohit Sharma, starter Shubman Gill, stumper Rishabh Pant, pacemaker Navdeep Saini and hitter Prithvi Shaw – have not been banned from traveling with the team despite an ongoing investigation into an alleged violation. of the biosafety protocol by them.
Cricket Australia, in a press release on Saturday, said it is investigating the matter together with the BCCI after a fan who identified himself as Navaldeep Singh on Twitter posted video of the players at an indoor restaurant.
“If you read the CA statement carefully, they never said it was a violation. They said they are trying to determine if it is a violation.
“So there are no restrictions for these five players to travel with the team to Sydney. The whole team will fly tomorrow afternoon,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on condition of anonymity.
It is understood that the controversy has not gone well with the traveling team and he is not amused by how Cricket Australia has handled the matter thus far.
“If the gentleman (fan) in question hadn’t lied about hugging a player (Rishabh Pant) on social media, this mess wouldn’t have happened. The players had come in because it was drizzling.
“This guy, without permission, recorded a video and then paid the bill that no one asked him to do and after that for publicity he posted a screenshot of the bill,” said the official.
“You want to tell me that Cricket Australia will make a decision based on an alleged video of a person who first lied and then retracted his statement,” he added.
What was the role of the Administrative Manager Girish Dongre?
For BCCI, the man under the scanner is administrative manager Girish Dongre. Dongre is an employee of the BCCI and is supposed to handle and also keep the team abreast of the COVID-19 protocols.
“Players are not supposed to carry protocol sheets or remember every written fine line,” said another BCCI official.
“There is a professional team of people who must make sure all the rules are followed and it was Dongre’s duty to make sure players are told that they cannot enter a covered area.
Try Brisbane from now on:
Australian media claimed Sunday that the fourth test in Brisbane has been compromised as tourists are reluctant to travel there in view of stricter quarantine rules.
But the fourth test, which starts in Gabba from January 15, is known to be underway as of now.
Border restrictions between New South Wales (site of the third test in Sydney) and the Queensland state government are a problem.
Queensland has closed its borders to people traveling from New South Wales due to the increase in COVD-19 cases in and around Sydney.
However, an exception will be made for the Test match and players will be on a stricter bio-bubble, similar to that of the IPL.
It could well be that to play the Test match in Brisbane, the Indian team had to be in a stricter bio-bubble of Sydney itself, which would mean a harsh quarantine (hotel-stadium-hotel) of about 15 days.
However, so far BCCI has not received any calls asking CA to change the test match from Brisbane to Sydney.
“It is a fluid situation. Let’s wait a few more days,” said a BCCI official.
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