No WAGs, family on tour: BCCI disciplines India after disastrous Australia series
NEW DELHI, JAN 14 : An unhappy Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) is set to take strict measures against the Indian cricket team after their disastrous tour of Australia. Sources have told India Today that the BCCI is set to curb family-time for the Indian players, by not allowing wives and girlfriends to travel with the players beyond 2 weeks on a tour that lasts over one and a half months.
Sources added that it has been made mandatory for the players to travel together in team buses. They have also been asked to pay for extra luggage.
The move comes after the Indian team lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3 in Australia. The team was not only hammered in the Test series, media reports coming out of Australia also suggested that the mood in the dressing room was off as well. Multiple controversies hurt the Indian team on their tour of Australia – starting from the retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin, a player projecting himself as the interim captain and then Rohit Sharma dropping himself from the side in the final match of the series.
Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah travelled with their young families between cities during the Australia tour while the rest of the players travelled together. A report even claimed that the Indian team did not celebrate their historic win in Perth together.
RULES SUGGESTED BY THE BCCI
If a tournament is a 45-day or longer event, families will only be allowed to stay with players for 14 days.
If the tour is shorter, the duration may be reduced to 7 days.
Wives cannot stay with players for the entire tournament.
Families can only stay for 2 weeks.
All players will have to travel on the team bus.
Gautam Gambhir’s personal manager will not be allowed to sit in the VIP box or travel on the team bus. He will have to stay in a different hotel.
If players’ luggage exceeds 150 kg, BCCI will not cover the extra charges, and players will have to pay them.
The BCCI recently held a review meeting with Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir after the Australia series. The BCCI decided to avoid any knee-jerk reactions in terms of the combination of the team. It is understood that with an important ODI tournament like the Champions Trophy scheduled in another six weeks’ time, any immediate reaction would hurt the team as well as the support staff.
-PTI
