The BCCI is all set to implement stricter protocols with the Indian cricket team which include limiting the time players spend with their families on tour and barring independent transport for players while commuting for practice and matches.
On tours of 45 days or more, players’ immediate families – partner and children – can be with them for no more than 14 days and not at all during the first two weeks of the tour. On shorter tours, families can accompany players for up to a week.
These directions have been part of player contracts but were relaxed during the Covid-19 pandemic when players were given the option to make their families part of the team bubble, keeping their mental health in mind.
India captain Rohit Sharma, head coach Gautam Gambhir and and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar met the BCCI office bearers in Mumbai on Saturday for the first time after the tour of Australia. The team leadership was informed of the return to the earlier protocols.
Part of these protocols will also mandate that all players travel in the team bus, a time-honoured practice which is said to be have been flouted by some players in the recent past.
As things stand, the BCCI pays for the families’ accommodation on tour but not their travel. There will be no change made to that policy provided the duration and the timing of the stay meet the protocols.
Sports associations have long grappled with the issue: should players’ partners and children be allowed to travel with them and for how long? Chennai Super Kings in the IPL is an example of the families’ presence working for the team, but there have been countless examples of teams banning partners at the team accommodation. Brazil won the 2019 Copa America when partners’ visits were banned. Then there is the case of Australia’s swimmers, who openly criticised a similar ban during the 2012 Olympics, complaining of loneliness and demotivation.
Indian cricket has had no set answers to this question. The last time the presence of families was discussed was in 2018, when the then captain Virat Kohli was reported to have requested relaxing the norms.
The current coach, Gambhir, told India Today then: “The player opinion varies. Only an individual can say because the individual has to play a Test match. Some want family to be there for the whole tour while others want little family time and they try to concentrate. Whatever the decision, it should be taken in the best interest of Indian cricket.”
