No leeway on India’s enforced isolation

THE Indian touring party should expect to spend a full two weeks in quarantine when it arrives for the Test summer, despite calls from BCCI president Sourav Ganguly for it to be “reduced a bit”.

India’s four-Test tour, led by Virat Kohli, will go ahead despite confirmation the T20 World Cup, which was to be staged in Australia in October and November, would be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Australia is still in line to host one of two back-to-back World Cups in 2021 and 2022, with India to host the other.

Interim Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley said despite uncertainty as the pandemic continues to plague the world, the expectation was India would be here in December.

He said there would be a “huge amount at stake” if it didn’t happen.

Hockley said travel exemptions would be needed and a “testing regime” established for Indian players, with plans for a biosecure bubble, potentially in Adelaide, to host the tourists for their mandated 14 days in quarantine after arrival.

Ganguly, who is currently self-isolating at home in India after his brother tested positive to coronavirus, said he didn’t want his players to “sit in hotel rooms for two weeks”.

But Hockley said the quarantine period was “well-defined” and CA was in discussions to provide the Indians with facilities to ensure their preparations for the series were “optimal”. “It is very, very depressing and disappointing,” Ganguly said.