The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has laid the blueprint for the preparations ahead of the UK tour. India’s both teams, men and women, will be touring England this summer for a full-length series. In this tough time of the pandemic, BCCI decided to quarantine Indian players before they leave for England, where they will again be isolated, however, with some let-offs.
Both teams are expected to reach Mumbai by 19 May to start their quarantine in a hotel. Players will be allowed inside the bio-bubble only after returning a negative test for the coronavirus.
Also Read: BCCI planned for RT PCR Tests for India players before assembling in Mumbai
Meanwhile, BCCI is noticed to be following different approaches among the men’s and women’s cricketers. While the board has conducted home testing for the men’s cricketers, they asked women’s cricketers to conduct their test for the Covid-19 and bring their reports with themselves upon arrival in Mumbai.
This certainly is raising concerns over BCCI’s double standards for their men’s and women’s cricketers. As per a report in the Bhaskar, two women cricketers expressed their annoyance about BCCI’s different policy. They revealed that as soon as they get to know about the board’s procedure, they conducted a test in order to procure the report on time.
BCCI has allowed the family members to travel along with the players as well keeping the length of this tour in mind. Hence, they will also enter into the bio-bubble on the same day.
Both teams will travel together to the UK via a chartered flight. Men’s will team feature in the inaugural World Test Championship final against New Zealand starting from June 18 in Southampton. They will, then, wait till August to start a five-match Test series against England. On the other hand, the Women’s team will feature in a lone Test before heading into the white-ball leg of the tour consisting of three ODIs and as many T20Is against England.
Also Read: BCCI announces Women’s squad for England series
India Women’s Team for Tests and ODIs: Mithali Raj (captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Raut, Priya Punia, Deepti Sharma, Jemima Rodriguez, Shefali Verma, Sneh Rana, Tania Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Indrani Roy (wicketkeeper), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht and Radha Yadav.
India Women’s T20I Team: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Jemima Rodriguez, Shefali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Tania Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Indrani Roy (wicketkeeper), Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav and Simran Dil Bahadur.
