Cricket news from England as India will face New Zealand for World Test Championship Final amid covid-19. Lockdowns, bio-bubble and 104 days long tour for India.
India has already reached Southampton, England to play the World Test Championship Final against New Zealand starting 18th June.
Most of the cricket players returned to their respective countries because of the ridiculously high number of Coronavirus cases in India. The numbers are so high that the virus has breached the bio-secure bubble in IPL, which caused the temporary cancellation of the tournament.
Now, the cricket will certainly be back for fans with a long tour planned up ahead.
India will stay in England for 104 days
India has travelled to England for World Test Championship Final. And then, England will host India for a 5 Match Test Series starting from 4th August 2021.
The series will end in Manchester on 14th September. In total, it makes a 104 days long tour.
But why has the tour become so long? The answer is Covid-19 protocols. The United Kingdom has listed India in the Red Zone; which means that England will only allow any passenger traveling to England if he or she is a citizen of England or Wales.
So, England has organized ‘In-Venue’ residence at Southampton to make sure that the bio-secure bubble stays protected. No team will be allowed to get outside the stadium.
Hence, England decided to shift the final from Lords to Rose Bowl, Southampton.
42 days gap between WTC Final and England Series
Right after the WTC Final ends on 22nd June or 23rd in case of any mishap, India will have to stay in England until they wrap up the bilateral test series as well.
But in between the WTC Final and the beginning of England India test series, India will have 42 days gap. And England will not allow Indian team to travel back to India.
As India has certainly been listed in Red category, arranging a hard quarantine and then a mandatory 10 days quarantine will become tough for England and Wales Cricket Board.
Although BCCI hasn’t informed anything whether ECB will allow the players to break the bubble for few days in England. India can go through quarantine before the onset of the England-India series.
Mental health of the players will certainly become an issue in this test series tour.
Lack of Match practice might hurt India
According to former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar, India will face a problem in playing New Zealand on Day 1 of the WTC Final.
Vengsarkar says that lack of match practice before the final will become an important issue altogether. Meanwhile, New Zealand has already started playing against England for the 2 Test Match series. Hence, New Zealand will certainly have a clear advantage on the pitch. B
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and their team have the ability to make everything look easy because of the dedication and attitude they showed in Australia. That raises the bar pretty high.