Players restricted to the hotel ground circuit, but may mix in the hotel team room
Making the bed. Cleaning the toilet. There is no room service. Order food in apps. No access to the pool. Ajinkya Rahane’s India will not only have to deal with mounting injuries on the field, but they will also have to deal with new house rules and cleanliness on the final leg of their trip to Australia. And it has irritated the Indian camp, which, along with the Australians, landed in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon for the final test at Gabba, which begins on Friday.
India was very reluctant to travel to Brisbane due to a combination of factors. The biggest was the fear of being restrained in their hotel rooms when they were not on the ground, reminiscent of the harsh two-week quarantine that visitors observed when landing in Sydney in November.
However, through lengthy deliberations over the past few weeks, Cricket Australia assured BCCI that the Indian team would not have to deal with a harsh quarantine. For example, although their movement would still be restricted between the hotel and the Gabba, they could mix in the team room. That eventually paved the way for India to agree to travel to Brisbane.
However, what bothered the team was to discover upon arrival at the team’s hotel that there would be no cleaning service. More than one person in the Indian camp said they had never been told about the DIY life at the hotel. Although they were also not allowed to roam freely around Sydney during the third test, they had room service and cleaning facilities at the hotel. This is not the case here. “There is a gym, a basic one,” said one person. “No pool, no room service, no cleaning service.”
There are also no food or drink options at the hotel. It is understood that an outside contractor has been hired to provide catering for the two teams, but they cannot ask for anything custom. However, they have the option of ordering through food apps.
One reason behind the absence of cleaning staff and other hotel staff could be that BCCI had told CA that it would want the Indian squad to fly out of Brisbane immediately after the Test. To ensure maximum guarantees, it is possible that CA agreed to have the minimum hotel staff to avoid unnecessary contact with a person outside the biosecure environment.
However, the Indian camp is not satisfied with the arrangements, especially considering that there are some players who are traveling with families.
The other major irritation to the Indian countryside is the ban on using the hotel pool. Several players with discomfort or injuries, including key players Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin, would like to use the pool as part of the recovery process. However, the groups are off limits due to fear of community spread of the Covid-19 virus.
The Indians also feared that they would be asked to isolate themselves for two more weeks upon their return to India from Brisbane due to a reported case of a person infected with the new British strain of the virus in Brisbane. That would have affected their plans for the home series against England, starting on February 5. However, as of now, there is no impediment for travelers traveling to India from Brisbane.
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor of ESPNcricinfo
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