BCCI President Sourav Ganguly wants a shorter than mandated quarantine period for the Indian team when it travels to Australia for a Test series this year as “we don’t want the players to go that far and sit in hotel rooms for two weeks”.
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the rules of the game, players have to be in quarantine for two weeks and be tested for the virus before they can take the field in empty stadiums for now.
But Ganguly is hoping that the Indian team will get some relaxation during its tour of Australia, comprising four Tests, including a day-nighter, later in the year.
“...We have confirmed that tour. In December we will be coming. We just hope the number of quarantine days get reduced a bit,” Ganguly told India Today show The Inspiration.
“Because we don’t want the players to go all that far and sit in hotel rooms for two weeks. It is very, very depressing and disappointing. We are looking at that, the quarantine thing,” he said.
“And, as I said Australia and New Zealand have been in good position except Melbourne. So from that point of view we will be going there and hopefully the quarantine days will be less and we can get back to cricket.”
Australia has over 9,000 confirmed cases and more than 7500 of them have recovered.
Ganguly felt that India will be facing a different Australian side but believes that they still stand a chance because of how good they have been over the past few years.
“It is going to be a tough series. It is not going to be what it was two years back. It is going to be a strong Australia but our team is as good,” he said.
“We have the batting, we have the bowling. We just need to bat better. The best teams overseas bat well.
“When we were so successful in England, in Australia, in Pakistan we were getting 400-500-600 in Test matches. I said that to Virat as well.”
Ganguly said that the series will be more important to Kohli’s tenure as captain of the side than the World Cup.
“Because you are Virat Kohli your standards are high. When you walk out to play, when you walk out with your team, I, watching on TV, don’t expect you to just play well against Australia. I expect you to win. So you have to live up to the standards. For his captaincy tenure this will be a milestone series — more than the World Cup,” said the former India captain.