IND vs AUS: We fully expect to be going to Brisbane to play Gabba Test, says Matthew Wade

Australia batsman Matthew Wade has said the hosts “fully expect” to play the fourth Test at the Gabba as per the original schedule after reports of India’s unwillingness to travel to the city emerged on Sunday.

Notably, the visitors are not too keen to go to Brisbane for the Fourth Test due to the quarantine restrictions that will be imposed on them by the Queensland government. The Indian players and support staff members had already completed their 14-day isolation when they arrived in Sydney after playing IPL 2020 in Dubai in November.

Cricket Australia, on Sunday, said that they had not formally been approached over the matter, but the two national boards do talk daily. And while nothing is clear as of now, Matthew Wade has made it clear that the hosts prefer to play the final Test in Brisbane. The Gabba in Brisbane is scheduled to host the fourth and final Test of the series from January 15.

“That’s the first I’ve heard of that, to be honest. We all knew we were going to get some curveballs and this is just one of them.

“The schedule has been rolled out and we’d prefer to stick to that. I would expect just to go to the Gabba regardless, (even) if that is more of a quarantine-based (situation), we fully expect to be going to Brisbane to play the Gabba Test,” Wade told reporters on Sunday.

The third Test in the four-match series is slated to start at Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday after Cricket Australia decided not to move the match in the wake of an outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the city’s northern beaches. On Monday, both squads will fly to New South Wales, which reported eight new locally transmitted cases of the virus and ramped up social distancing measures on Sunday.

Moreover, the states have also closed their borders. According to the current rules, members of the public cannot enter Queensland from Sydney without serving another two weeks in quarantine. While harder restrictions will be in place in Sydney, Cricket Australia chief Nick Hockley said last week Brisbane’s Test would be played under “quarantine conditions”. It means teams will predominantly only be able to leave their hotels to train and play, as part of an exemption for them to cross the closed border from greater Sydney into Queensland.

“If that’s what the Government are going to make us to do play a game at the Gabba, we’re willing to sacrifice. I knew coming into it, and a lot of people knew coming into it, it wasn’t going to be an ideal situation and if something went south, we were going to have to make some more sacrifices along the way.

Australia on the other hand, are more than happy to play at Gabba because their past record at this venue is great and they haven’t lost a Test match since 1988.

“As a group, we understand that and we’re ready for the challenge. Our record is very good there and we tend to play good cricket there.

“Two games back-to-back at the SCG would not be something we’d want to do, we’d be much more comfortable playing the schedule (as planned), there’s no secret we love the Gabba and we want to get there,” Wade said of the Gabba.