Reports | India-England series could be moved to February 2021
England's tour of India could be pushed to February 2021
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After Nick Hockley asserted that the two-week quarantine was âwell definedâ, a BCCI official has revealed that it would result in the India-England series being pushed to February 2021. India will kick start its return to cricket with a full-fledged tour of Australia at the end of the year.
With the cricketing world coming to a standstill owing to the Coronavirus, teams have had to restructure their calendars for the upcoming season. After the ICC decided to postpone the World Cup, and the IPL reportedly set to take that slot, Indiaâs tour of Australia has now become the marquee event of the year. However, it has not come without its own share of problems.Â
According to a BCCI official, it looks likely that the board will have to move the following series against England to February due to the fact that the hosts can only be back in the country by January 26.
"The ODI series in Australia at present ends on January 17 and even if the teams get a two-day breather before starting the T20I series, that would mean that the first T20I can only be played by January 20. Having games on alternate days at the same venue would mean the T20I series ending on January 24. That would see India heading home on January 26 at the earliest,â the BCCI official told IANS.
"Even if we imagine that quarantine rules won't exist in India till then, you cannot have a Test series without at least a gap of 7-10 days as the boys need a minimum time to adapt back not just from white-ball to red, but also the change in timing. So, the England series moves into February."
A major reason for the delay is the fact that Australia have a strict 14-day quarantine rule in place and CA Chief Executive Nick Hockley made it perfectly clear that those rules would not be altered. While the BCCI official said that the quarantine rules were âperfectly understandableâ given the current situation, he was quick to add that it was getting very difficult to fit in a T20I series into the tour as well.Â
"The protocols in place in Australia are necessary on account of the pandemic and it's perfectly understandable. There are no two ways about that. We are all dealing with the challenges that the pandemic poses to us and the commitment with other boards regarding dates is a challenge that will prove difficult to meet in these circumstances and accordingly the dates and length of the tours may need to be tweaked and that may mean amending the number of matches. A 14-day quarantine means it would get reduced from the total length of the tour," the unnamed official added.
"We were apprised that work is being done on the schedule before it is finalised. They are looking at fitting in the T20I series. India also play England after returning from Australia and that schedule is also being worked out while the pink-ball Test is fixed for Ahmedabad. We need to see how the other venues are placed and the distance from hotels to the grounds and things like that with an eye on the current scenario due to the pandemic. Hopefully we will have further clarity before the end of the year as working in tandem with the government is a must."
