Reports | BCCI unsure about accepting Australia’s proposal to play five Tests

04/26/2020

The BCCI are reportedly skeptical about agreeing to play five Tests instead of four against Australia later this year and are said to be keen on waiting for things to settle down before taking a call. Earlier, CA chief Kevin Roberts had suggested the possibility of adding one more Test to the tour.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic wave has done irreparable damage to the finances of sporting bodies across the world and thus, this has resulted in boards exploring every scenario possible to generate revenue and get their finances back on track. The ECB, for instance, are exploring the possibility of scrapping the county season and prioritizing white-ball competitions, while Cricket South Africa have already announced a truncated domestic calendar.

In one such move, Cricket Australia chief Kevin Roberts put forward the idea of expanding the four-Test series between India and Australia that is set to happen later in the year to five Tests, in order to generate more revenue, but as things stand, the BCCI seem to be not-so-keen in accepting the proposal.

"It is too early to say if we will be keen to play five Tests in Australia at the end of the year. The current situation is a great teacher and we need to play it one ball at a time. Right now, the situation isn't right to even think about something that is seven or eight months away. Who knows what the situation will be in October?,” a BCCI official told IANS.

“Let us first see how things unfold and only then we can talk about these things. You don't really know if the travel directives will undergo further changes in the near future.”

There are fears of the Border-Gavaskar trophy getting scrapped completely due to the travel restrictions imposed by the Australian government, but earlier this week, ESPN Cricinfo reported that India might be given international exemptions to arrive in the country and play out the series. Cancellation of the series could see CA lose up to AUD 300 million in revenue, but the board are set to have received a positive response from the authorities regarding a potential exemption being provided.

"...The governing body is understood to have received highly encouraging news about their outlook, at least as far as the lucrative India tour is concerned," read the report, according to News18.

India are currently scheduled to tour Australia in December, post the World T20, for four Tests and three ODIs.