Team India left for Australia on Wednesday for a two-month-long tour, where they would aim to replicate the success of the historic Test series victory two years earlier. Team India is flying directly to Australia from Dubai, where they will remain under quarantine for 14 days. However, they will be allowed to practice during this time.
The BCCI tweeted pictures of players wearing PPE kits before the Indian team left amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The BCCI wrote the caption on the Twitter handle with the photo, ‘#TeamIndia is BACK! Let’s embrace the new normal’
Most of the players from the Indian team were playing in the IPL and after their teams’ campaign ended, they moved to a bio-bubble (a safe environment under the rules made for players to play) designed for the national team. Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara and other support staff went into the bio-bubble prepared for the national team after arriving in Dubai last month.
Rohit Sharma, who gave Mumbai Indians a record fifth title, and Ishant Sharma, who is recovering from injury at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, will later join the team. These two players are selected for the Test series only.
Rohit Sharma was not picked in any of three formats due to a hamstring injury last month but was later retained in the Test team after recovering from it.
India’s number one Test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha has also gone on tour with the team. He was injured on November 3 while playing for his IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad. On November 9, the BCCI declared the revised team, saying that Saha’s availability would be decided later.
Team India is scheduled to play three ODIs, three T20 Internationals and four Test matches in Australia, starting from November 27. The ODI and T20 series will be played from November 27 to December 8 in Sydney and Canberra. The much-awaited Test series starts in Adelaide on December 17 with a day-night test match. Captain Virat Kohli has been allowed paternity leave after the first Test match as his wife Anushka Sharma is going to be a mother in the first week of January.
It will be India’s first assignment since the home ODI series against South Africa in March, which was abandoned midway due to COVID-19 outbreak
