Sourav Ganguly calls for short quarantine period before India’s Test series against Australia

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly confirmed that India will be touring Australia for a Test series later this year, but called for a shortened quarantine period for the players.

The situation of COVID-19 across Australia has come under considerable control, except in Melbourne, where there has been a recent surge in COVID-19 cases.

Speaking to India Today, Ganguly said, “Ya, ya, we have confirmed that tour. In December we will be coming. We just hope the number of quarantine days get reduced a bit. Because we don’t want the players to go all that far and sit in hotel rooms for two weeks. It is very, very depressing and disappointing. And, as I said Australia and New Zealand have been in good position except Melbourne. So from that point of view we will be going there and hopefully the quarantine days will be less and we can get back to cricket.”

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West Indies spent a couple of weeks in quarantine before the start of the Test series against England. Virat Kohli’s India are scheduled to tour Australia for a 4 Test match series in December-January. India won a four-Test series in Australia 2-1 in 2018-19.

Ganguly also gave his own preview of the Test series by stating, “It is going to be a tough series. It is not going to be what it was two years back. It is going to be a strong Australia but our team is as good. We have the batting, we have the bowling. We just need to bat better. You know the best team overseas bat well. When we were so successful in England, in Australia, in Pakistan we were getting 400-500-600 in Test matches. I said that to Virat as well.”

Backing his side to win under Kohli’s leadership, the former Indian captain, who led the side to a thrilling 1-1 draw in Australia in 2003/04, said, “Because you are Virat Kohli your standards are high. When you walk out to play, when you walk out with your team, I, watching on TV, don’t expect you to just play well against Australia. I expect you to win. So you have to live up to the standards. For his captaincy tenure this will be a milestone series, more than the World Cup.”