Dubai: There have been a lot of discussions on whether the Indian team can be allowed to start training in Australia even though the quarantine period cannot be relaxed with an eye on the coronavirus pandemic. And in what comes as good news for Virat Kohli and boys, they can hit the ground running after one round of COVID-19 test after reaching Australia.
Speaking to ANI, sources in the know of developments in the Indian team said that with the squad reaching on November 12, they will undergo corona test and the moment the report comes negative, they can start training.
"The team reaches Australia on November 12 morning and after that, they will undergo corona tests and the moment they have negative reports, they are eligible to train so you can expect the boys to start training from November 13 onwards," the source said.
With the bio-bubble measures in place in the post-coronavirus era, the team is also expected to play intrasquad matches as the Indian players will look to adapt to the wickets and conditions in Australia at the earliest after almost all of them spent close to 60 days playing in completely contrasting conditions in the Indian Premier League in the UAE.
Skipper Virat Kohli moved into the bubble created for the Indian players in Dubai late on Friday night after Royal Challengers Bangalore lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator of the IPL. The likes of Mayank Agarwal and all had already started preparing with Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari once their respective campaigns ended in the ongoing IPL.
The Indian squad started preparations for the day-night Test against Australia in Adelaide from Friday evening itself with pink balls. Even though throwdown specialist Raghu had to skip travelling to the UAE with the rest of the support staff as he is down with coronavirus, the team has another throwdown specialist in Sri Lankan Nuwan Seneviratne. His left-arm throwdowns are something which will help the Indians prepare for the Australian pace unit which is led by Mitchell Starc.
To help the Indian batsmen optimise their training sessions, the team is also taking four additional bowlers -- Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel, and T. Natarajan -- to Australia.
India and Australia will play three ODIs, three T20Is, and four Tests against each other. The Test series will be a part of the World Test Championship.
India and Australia are currently at the number one and two spots in the World Test Championship standings. The last time India toured Australia, the Virat Kohli-led side managed to win their first Test series Down Under.
