50 percent crowd likely to be allowed for India-England Tests

After a lot of deliberations and to and fro on the decisions, the BCCI is now strongly mulling the idea of having a 50 percent crowd in Chennai and Ahmedabad for the Test series against England, starting on February 5. Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket allowed fans to the venue in 50 percent capacity, […]
 
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50 percent crowd likely to be allowed for India-England Tests

After a lot of deliberations and to and fro on the decisions, the BCCI is now strongly mulling the idea of having a 50 percent crowd in Chennai and Ahmedabad for the Test series against England, starting on February 5.

Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket allowed fans to the venue in 50 percent capacity, largely because the pandemic situation is extremely controlled in New Zealand and Australia as compared to other parts of the world. With India going through a rough patch and the players likely to be in a hard quarantine, that seemed improbable in the beginning but now the BCCI is strongly considering this.

“As of now, we are likely to allow 50 percent spectators for the four Test matches. The BCCI is in talks with both state cricket associations (TNCA and GCA) and also state health authorities,” a senior BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

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“If you allow 50 percent crowd with all necessary precautions, then it will be an indicator if we can also allow spectators during IPL in India,” the source said.

50 percent crowd likely to be allowed for India-England Tests

Earlier, reports emerged that England were not in favour of India having a crowd back for the series as it might sabotage the bubble and risk players’ health.

England to name its squad for India tour on Thursday

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are likely to announce their squad for the first two Tests in Chennai on Thursday. They will not name the squad for the full series considering the fact there are two different bubbles in place in India and the second pack can join them directly in Ahmedabad for the series.