India tour of Australia: Together with the Indian team support team for the company, Test pros Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari is leaving for Dubai on Sunday to combine the rest of the squad members for the tour of Australia.
Head coach Ravi Shastri is expected to join others on Monday, according to a report in ESPNCricinfo.Apart from Pujara and Vihari, batting trainer Vikram Rathour, bowling trainer Bharat Arun and fielding trainer R Sridhar will be traveling together with the duo before the tour of Australia. On attaining UAE, the team will have to stick to exactly the same standard operating procedures put in place by the BCCI for its IPL, including a six-day quarantine in Dubai and also COVID-19 tests at regular intervals.
On the other hand, the group will not be part of the IPL bio-bubble and will probably be remaining individually. Sydney and Canberra are set to host the white-ball leg of India’s tour of Australia following the New South Wales government allowed the visiting team to train throughout its compulsory quarantine upon arrival.
India is scheduled to play T20s, three ODIs, and four Tests in Australia. The squads for the tour are yet to be declared by the Indian selectors.” It is understood that the selectors did not want to finalize the squads with no last approval from the BCCI to the CA schedule,” the report said.”The selectors, however, are known to have already had informal discussions and are expected to fulfill early next week to finalize the 3 squads,” it added.
Pujara and Vihari are the sole two first-choice Test specialists who aren’t participating in the ongoing Indian Premier League in UAE. The duo will join the rest of the Indian players selected to go to Australia. India will likely be traveling to Australia using a jumbo squad containing 30 playing members across formats considering that the show will be played at a bio-bubble amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IPL concludes on November 10. The Indian group was originally supposed to property in Brisbane however, the Queensland country health authorities didn’t unwind their 14-day quarantine principle allowing Virat Kohli and Co to train during that interval.
Cricket Australia is expected to announce the entire schedule after getting it accepted by the BCCI.