Indian players followed protocols while visiting restaurant in Melbourne, clarifies BCCI source

Team India players Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Navdeep Saini, Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill meeting an Indian fan during their visit to a restaurant in Melbourne created quite a buzz on Saturday morning. There was a possible breach of bio-bubble protocols with the fan stating that they clicked picture with him even as Rishabh Pant hugged him as well.

The fan narrated the whole incident on his Twitter handle on Friday as he also paid the bill for cricketers after spotting them at Secret Kitchen, a noodles and BBQ restaurant at Chadstone Shopping Centre. The story went viral soon on social media as Twitterati praised the fan for his wonderful gesture.

But his tweet of Pant hugging him led to the chances of protocol getting breached amid COVID-19 scare. However, the fan, on Saturday morning, clarified that the Indian wicket-keeper never hugged him and he had just written it in his tweet out of excitement. Moreover, he also apologised for miscommunication and stated that the social distancing was maintained.

Clarification – Pant never hugged me it was all said in excitement we maintained social distance all thru:) Apologies for miscommunication @BCCI @CricketAus @dailytelegraph

— Navaldeep Singh (@NavalGeekSingh) January 2, 2021

No protocol breach, says BCCI

A BCCI source in the know of developments has cleared now that there was no breach of protocols from the Indian players and there is no need to make an issue out of the matter. He also said that all the necessary protocols were followed and the temperature check of the players was also done.

“The boys had just gone out to a restaurant to get some food. They followed all the necessary protocols and their temperature was checked and proper sanitization was done before they sat on the table. There is no need to make an issue out of this. As for the whole question of a fan being hugged by Pant, the fan has himself confessed that he had said out of excitement,” the source said according to Latestly.

Meanwhile, team India has begun training ahead of the crucial third Test against Australia in Sydney. The match will commence on January 7 with the series nicely poised at 1-1 at the moment.