'It's very depressing and disappointing' - Sourav Ganguly wants a shortened quarantine period for Indian players in Australia tour

Both BCCI and Cricket Australia have confirmed that the much-awaited series between India and Australia will get unfurled later this year. The Virat Kohli-led side is scheduled to tour the Kangaroo nation for four Tests in December-January window, with Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney being the venues for the high-profile Tests.

Ahead of the marquee tour, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, while confirming the series, said that he wants a shortened quarantine period for the Indian players as it gets ‘depressing’. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, West Indies squad had to spend 14 days in quarantine after landing in England for the three-match Test series.

Ganguly also highlighted the current COVID-19 situation in Melbourne as it has witnessed a recent surge in positive cases. Ganguly said that both Australia and New Zealand, amid coronavirus outbreak, have been in a good position barring Melbourne. By Friday, Australia, a nation of 25 million, had recorded just more than 9,000 COVID-19 cases and 106 of them were fatal.

“Ya, ya, we have confirmed that tour. In December we will be coming. We just hope the number of quarantine days gets reduced a bit, Ganguly told TV channel India Today.

“Because we don’t want the players to go all that far and sit in hotel rooms for two weeks. It is very, very depressing and disappointing.

“And, as I said Australia and New Zealand have been in good position except for Melbourne. So from that point of view, we will be going there and hopefully, the quarantine days will be less and we can get back to cricket,” added the BCCI president.

Sourav Ganguly backs Virat Kohli and Co to win in Australia

India had won the four-Test series in Australia 2-1 in 2018-19. However, the Australian side was without David Warner and Steve Smith, who both had missed the series due to their ball-tampering bans. Ganguly also pointed out that it’s going to be a tough series as things have changed since India’s triumph in 2018-19 Test series. However, Ganguly backed India to clinch the victory under Kohli’s leadership.

“It is going to be a tough series. It is not going to be what it was two years back. It is going to be a strong Australia but our team is as good. We have the batting, we have the bowling. We just need to bat better. You the best team overseas bat well,” said Ganguly.

“Because you are Virat Kohli your standards are high. When you walk out to play, when you walk out with your team, I, watching on TV, don’t expect you to just play well against Australia. I expect you to win,” said the former India captain. So you have to live up to the standards. For his captaincy tenure this will be a milestone series – more than the World Cup,” he added.