Published 12:33 IST, January 2nd 2021
Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant & others breached bio bubble with fan who 'paid their bill'?
Team India's Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Navdeep Saini & Rishabh Pant are reportedly under the BCCI scanner for a potential bio-bubble breach in Melbourne
Team India's Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Navdeep Saini and Rishabh Pant are under the BCCI scanner for a potential bio-bubble breach in Melbourne after they reportedly met an Indian cricket fan at a restaurant on Friday. A fan named Navaldeep Singh took to Twitter to share a series of tweets & a video on meeting the Team India stars at a hotel and went on to claim that he had paid their food bill. As per sources, the actions of the Indian cricketers have come under the scanner of the BCCI for not adhering to the bio-bubble rules set by Cricket Australia.
The fan also made a controversial claim that Rishabh Pant had 'hugged' him, however, backtracked and apologised later, revealing that he was 'excited' to meet them and that social distancing had been maintained throughout. As per the bio-bubble rules, the cricketers had been allowed to dine out at a restaurant but were told to avoid sitting indoors as it could increase the chances of contracting the COVID-19 virus. Neither BCCI nor Cricket Australia have officially commented about the issue so far. With two Tests left to compete in, Team India could be dealt with a huge loss if their players are found guilty of violating the bio-bubble.
Fan claims to have met Indian cricketers, paid their food bill
Rohit Sharma named India's vice-captain
Two days after joining the Indian squad in Melbourne, Rohit Sharma has been appointed as the Vice-Captain for the remaining two Tests in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series, the BCCI confirmed on Friday morning. The swashbuckling opener will assume the role of Ajinkya Rahane's deputy taking over the duties from Cheteshwar Pujara. The decision also means that Rohit Sharma is set to feature in the playing XI for the third Test at the SCG. The board has also included T Natarajan into the squad to replace Umesh Yadav, who has been ruled out of the series. Yadav had sustained an injury in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test at MCG and has been sent to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for rehab.
SCG gets nod to host 3rd Test
Clearing the cloud of doubt over the occasion for the third Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, Cricket Australia has confirmed that the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) will host the third Test of the series, as per the schedule. The rising number of COVID-19 cases had cast a doubt on the SCG playing the host for the annual pink Test, putting the national cricket board on high alert. However, officials have affirmed that the COVID-19 threat has subsided enough allowing the match at the SCG to proceed as per schedule.
Updated 12:33 IST, January 2nd 2021