The BCCI Apex Council will have a virtual meeting on Saturday and the main points on the agenda will be the quarantine period for the Indian team before the start of the Australia tour. Plans will also be formulated for the start of the domestic season in India as well as for hosting a home series against England potentially by February 2021.
The BCCI Apex Council will hold a meeting on Saturday via virtual conferencing as they aim to lay out a blueprint for the future of Indian cricket team’s activities. The main agendas for the meeting are expected to be the quarantine period for India’s tour to Australia which is expected to begin in December as well as laying out a blueprint for the resumption of domestic cricket in the country. There are also plans for hosting England in a mega-event at home potentially around the period of February 2021. The meeting will be attended by prominent BCCI members like president Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah and treasurer Arun Dhumal. The BCCI officials are currently also monitoring the IPL 2020 matches which are ongoing in UAE.
India are expected to tour Australia for three ODIs, three Twenty20 Internationals and four Tests that will be played from December to January. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the schedule might be altered totally. It is believed that the traditional Boxing Day Test might not be held in Melbourne as it is one of the worst-affected cities in Australia.
Cricket Australia are themselves involved in a financial tussle with their main broadcaster Channel 7. The host broadcaster has threatened to terminate its contract worth USD 450 million over its allegedly poor handling of the domestic and international calender for the 2020-21 season. In September, Channel 7, which is a free-to-air network asked for a discount to its rights fee for most of the year, due to loss of content due to Covid-19, lack of high quality content, delaying the start of Seven's share of the international season by acceding to India's request to play ODIs and T20Is before the start of the Test series. Fox Sports will broadcast the ODIs and T20Is while the Tests will be played after. One BCCI official said that Cricket Australia had prepared a rough schedule but it was not finalised.
Domestic season, quarantine
The main bone of contention for the Indian cricket team is the 14-day quarantine period in Australia. According to the country’s coronavirus SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), anybody who comes to the country will have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine period. Currently, Australia’s borders are sealed and no international travel is permitted except under necessary circumstances.
The main point will be the resumption of domestic cricket in India. Ideally, the season should have begun in October with the Duleep Trophy Pink Ball games. However, with the coronavirus cases in India crossing 70 lakhs, there is a feeling that there will only be Ranji Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali with the Vijay Hazare and Irani Trophy cancelled. The Ranji Trophy could also be a truncated one as the question of bio-bubble logistics might make it very difficult.
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