BCCI plans to limit travel of wives and family members with team during tours
BCCI plans to limit travel of wives and family members with team during tours
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to revert to its previous policy of not allowing the wives and family members of players to travel with the team for the entire duration of a tour.
According to a proposal discussed at last Saturday’s review meeting, the wife or the family of a cricketer can stay with the team for two weeks if the series lasts more than 45 days, while on shorter tours, the limit on stay will be reduced to just seven days.
While this is still in planning stages, the Board, indeed, had a similar policy for wives and family until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The rules, however, were relaxed during the pandemic to make the players feel comfortable inside the bio-bubble on long tours. Since then, the players were allowed to take their family along for the entire tour.
However, following an embarrassing Test series defeat against Australia earlier this month, a section of the BCCI office-bearers believe that it’s important to crack the whip.
It could not be ascertained, though, whether the proposed policy will be implemented for the upcoming Champions Trophy and the tour of England later this year.
During the meeting, it was also discussed that in order to maintain unity and team bonding, the players and coaches should only travel by team bus. While the BCCI veteran confirmed that it was always supposed to be the case but of late, players reportedly use other modes of transportation.
However, former India international Aakash Chopra was intrigued by the BCCI’s new diktat on the team bus. “All Players Will Have to Travel On The Team Bus’ Finding this one most amusing. Wasn’t that always the norm??? If it isn’t the case anymore…it’s worth finding out who changed that?? And why??” wrote Chopra on social media.
The BCCI insiders indicated that another rule that could come into effect covers the luggage of the players on tours. According to the proposal, if a player’s luggage is more than 150kg, the BCCI will not pay extra luggage charges. Players will have to bear that, the source added.
