The first Test of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy has come under a shadow as Australian players, including Test captain Tim Paine and Matthew Wade, have been forced to go into self-isolation following a fresh coronavirus outbreak.
A cluster of Covid-19 cases in Adelaide, the venue of the first Test between Australia and India, has prompted other states to close their borders with South Australia, said a report in cricket.com.au.
The governments of Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory have announced border closures, with Queensland to impose a two-week hotel quarantine on all visitors from Adelaide from 11.59 pm on Monday.
The rules mean all that Western Australia players, who took part in the recent Marsh Sheffield Shield rounds in Adelaide, must now self-isolate for two weeks and so Paine, Wade, and their team-mates in the Tasmania squad, have gone into isolation.
Picture courtesy: Cricket Australia
South Australia announced the new Covid-19 cluster on Sunday, with the number of cases quickly growing to 17 on Monday.
Meanwhile, Cricket Australia has said that it is monitoring the situation. “There is ongoing monitoring but that’s the end of the story,” a CA spokeswoman was quoted as saying by The Sydney Morning Herald on the pink-ball Test.
The Indian contingent, as well as the Australian players who took part in the Indian Premier League in the UAE, are in two-week quarantine in Sydney since last Thursday. The players are, however, able to train after returning negative in their Covid-19 tests.
The two teams will compete in three ODIs and as many T20Is — beginning November 27 — before the four-Test series.
The first two ODIs will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground while the third ODI and the first T20I will be played at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. The final two T20Is will then be played at the SCG.
Virat Kohli-led Team India will begin the title defense of the trophy with the pink-ball Test in Adelaide from December 17. It will be followed by Tests at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (December 26), the Sydney Cricket Ground (January 7), and the Gabba (January 15).