Sourav Ganguly's no-quarantine demand rejected, Australia tour to kick off in Brisbane?

India are set to travel to Australia for a long tour immediately after the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) is done. The Indian and Australian players were set to enter Australia via Perth but that seems unlikely now as the Western Australia state government has made it clear that there won’t be any relaxation in quarantine guidelines in their territory. As a result, the much-anticipated tour is now set to begin either in Adelaide or Brisbane instead of Perth.

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India vs Australia 2020: Sourav Ganguly led BCCI's request to let players train under quarantine denied 

According to an ESPNCricinfo report, Adelaide is prepared to host consecutive Tests - a day-night game and then the customary Boxing Day Test if the MCG remains unavailable due to the escalating coronavirus situation in Victoria. On top of that, players from both the squads will be directly coming after the IPL 2020 from the UAE, where there is a second wave of coronavirus cases.

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As per the report, Mark McGowan, the Premier of the WA state government said that they didn’t think it was acceptable to have the team return from a high-risk overseas location and then engage in normal training activities outside of quarantine, before flying out to another state to play games. He added that there were just too many risks in the model put forward by Cricket Australia. McGowan further said that they need to remain vigilant and do the right thing by all Western Australians and not take unnecessary chances.

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Both India and Australia were supposed to be based in a relaxed quarantine environment in Perth and train there too, ahead of the high-profile series. However, the Western Australia state government’s insistence on a strict hotel quarantine for international travellers has spoiled the plans of Cricket Australia (CA). The Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI had requested the CA to allow its players to train during the quarantine inside the bio-bubble, which is not possible in Perth.

The India vs Australia 2020 tour is expected to start with limited-overs matches (T20 series), post which Virat Kohli’s men will take on the Tim Paine-led Australian team in the four-match Test series. The CA is likely to release the revised Test series schedule this week.

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IMAGE COURTESY: CRICKET.COM.AU