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regular-article-logo Monday, 23 December 2024

Matthew Wade pitches for Brisbane

Cricket Australia said that the Test would be played under 'quarantine conditions', which means teams predominantly will only be able to leave their hotels for practice sessions and game time

Our Bureau Calcutta Published 04.01.21, 03:38 AM
Doubts have surfaced over the venue for the fourth and final Test following reports that India are reluctant to play at Gabba because of the stricter quarantine protocols in Brisbane.

Doubts have surfaced over the venue for the fourth and final Test following reports that India are reluctant to play at Gabba because of the stricter quarantine protocols in Brisbane. Twitter/@CricketAus

Australia are not bothered whether five Indian cricketers breached bio-secure protocols, they want to focus on only what the visitors do on the field. So says Matthew Wade.

“What India are doing, I haven’t really thought too much about it. I have seen the photo (of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini at a Melbourne restaurant) and it is what it is. But people a lot higher than me are sorting it out.

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“So as a group, we are not worried about what India are doing outside the cricket ground. We cannot do much about it,” Wade said during Sunday’s online media conference facilitated by Sony Pictures Sports Network.

Both the teams will be reaching Sydney on Monday for the third Test beginning January 7.

Doubts have surfaced over the venue for the fourth and final Test following reports that India are reluctant to play at Gabba because of the stricter quarantine protocols in Brisbane.

Wade, however, said that Australia “fully expect” to play the final match of the series in Brisbane.

“We all knew we were going to get some curveballs and this is just one of them. The schedule has been rolled out and we’d prefer to stick to that.

“I would expect just to go to the Gabba regardless. Even if that is more of a quarantine-based situation, we fully expect to be going to Brisbane (for the final Test),” he said.

Cricket Australia had said last week that the Brisbane Test would be played under “quarantine conditions”, which means teams predominantly will only be able to leave their hotels for practice sessions and game time. According to Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young, players would be confined to their hotels, not their individual hotel rooms.

“If that’s what the government is going to make us to do in order to play a game at the Gabba, we’re willing to sacrifice,” Wade, who opened in the first two Tests, said.

Wade, however, is not too concerned about having to go back to the middle order if both David Warner and Will Pucovski are included in the Sydney Test. “We expect David to play, so it’ll either be me opening with him or they’ll make a change.

“As for opening, I saw it as an opportunity to show I was versatile to bat from one to seven,” he said.

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