Cricket / India cricketers went inside restaurant due to rain: BCCI official on viral video

After a video showing five India cricketers having lunch inside a Melbourne restaurant in a potential bio-security breach went viral, a senior BCCI official said, "The players were standing outside the restaurant and due to drizzle...they got inside." He added, "If this is a way of trying to unsettle the team before...third Test, it’s a bad ploy by Cricket Australia."

Vikrant Shekhawat : Jan 04, 2021, 08:45 AM

Cricket Desk: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)is all set to back the five Indian Players who are put to isolation by Cricket Australia for alleged bio bubble breach. The five Indian players Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Navdeep Saini and Prithvi Shaw have been separated from the rest of the teammates and placed in isolation after a video was surfaced on social media where the players were seen sitting indoors in a restaurant and suspected to be in breach of biosecurity protocols.

According to the BCCI official, the player sat inside the restaurant due to the drizzle and said it’s a bad ploy by Cricket Australia to unsettle the Indian team.

“The players were standing outside the restaurant and due to drizzle, they had gotten inside. If this is a way of trying to unsettle the team before the third Test, it’s a bad ploy by Cricket Australia,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.

Asked if Cricket Australia could disallow the three players (Rohit, Pant and Gill) from taking part in the next Test, the official said: “Firstly, they are allowed to train. Secondly, I don’t think it will come to that as then there could be adverse implications.”

Earlier, CA stated that they and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI are investing the video and seeking whether there was a breach of biosecurity protocols.

“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) were today alerted to a video post on social media that purported to show Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini eating at an indoor venue in Melbourne on New Year’s Day,” CA said in a statement.

While on Saturday morning a senior BCCI official said the Indian team is “well aware” of the COVID-19 protocols and had not violated any of them.

“No, there has been no breach in bio-security protocols. Everyone associated with the Indian team is well aware of the protocols,” the senior BCCI official had said in the morning.

“We can only term it as a malicious spin by a section of Australian media and this has started after their humiliating defeat,” he added.