Alleged Bio bubble breach
Melbourne/New Delhi, Jan 2: Five India Test players, including vice-captain Rohit Sharma, opener Shubman Gill and wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, have been placed in isolation and an investigation launched into a possible breach of the COVID-19 bio-security protocol by them, Cricket Australia said today.
This was after a fan put out a video of the players sitting inside an indoor restaurant on Twitter on Friday. He claimed to have been seated close to them and also talked about getting a hug from Pant after he paid for the players’ meal. He later retracted the claim about the hug after it raised serious questions on a breach of protocol.
The BCCI brass had initially ruled out any investigation after reports of a possible breach first appeared in the media here, but Cricket Australia’s late statement said a joint probe is on.
“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.
It has been learnt that the Indian Cricket board will back its players as the general consensus is that there hasn’t been any deliberate breach. There is a feeling that Indian team might just come together like 2007-08 ‘Monkey Gate’ controversy when Andrew Symonds had claimed that Harbhajan Singh had abused him racially.
As per protocol, players are allowed to eat out in outdoor settings, following social distancing norms.
“The BCCI and CA are investigating the matter and seeking to determine whether the outing constitutes a breach of bio-security protocols.”
The isolation protocols were put in place after consulting with medical teams.
“On the advice of the Australian and Indian medical teams, the aforementioned players have been placed in isolation as a precaution.
“This will include separating the group of players from the broader Indian and Australian squads when travelling and at the training venue,” CA further stated. (PTI)
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