India are reportedly willing to undergo a two-week-long quarantine in Australia ahead of their tour to the country in November this year, with as many as $300 million of Cricket Australia’s revenue at stake.
According to a report in The Age, Arun Dhumal, the BCCI treasurer, has said that the two-week-long isolation would be ideal for the touring party, even as the prospects of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to precede the four-Test series, look grim.
“There is no choice – everyone will have to do that. You would want to resume the cricket,” Dhumal was quoted as saying.
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“Two weeks is not that long a lockdown. That would be ideal for any sportsman because when you are in quarantine for such a long period, then going to another country and having a two-week lockdown, it would be a good thing to do. We’ll have to see what the norms are, post this lockdown.”
Financially hit hard by the pandemic, Cricket Australia is reportedly keen on extending the four-match series against India to five games, but Dhumal remained non-committal over the change in fixtures.
“Once we are sure when cricket will resume, then only will we be able to make a final call on that,” he said. “That discussion [on five Tests] took place before the lockdown. If there is a window available, it would be up to the boards to decide whether they wanted to go for a Test match or maybe two ODIs or maybe two T20s.
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“Given the revenue loss they will have on account of lockdown, post-lockdown they will want to have revenue, and revenue most likely will come from ODIs or T20s much more than a Test match. For any board for that matter, there has been a lot of revenue loss on account of this lockdown and COVID-19, so they would need to think about that.”
