After the completion of the World Test Championship final in Southampton, the Indian players will reportedly get a 20-day break from the bubble life in the United Kingdom. The cricketers will disperse on June 24, they will have to return to the bubble for the five-Test series against England around July 14 and then complete the mandatory quarantine.
A BCCI source told ANI that the team management said the break will help the team to get some life out of the bubble due to a hectic schedule. The Indian team has to not only spend time in the bubble for the Test series against England but will also straightaway move to the IPL bubble in the UAE post the Test series and then to the T-20 World Cup bubble.
“The group will head off for the break on June 24 after the final against New Zealand and then regroup again around July 14 to prepare for the Test series against England which gets underway from August 4.”
This means the players could head to any place which has low or negligible COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom. After the three-week break, the Indian team will begin preparations for the test series against England. Indian captain Virat Kohli insisted that such a break will help a world of good for players after staying in the bubble for a long time.
“I feel like after you are done with WTC, I think it is a great opportunity to refresh and restructure, hopefully, if things are okay, just for the guys to be normal and disconnect again, to understand that we have the pressure of a five-match series. Like in Australia, if we had to contest in a bubble for that long period, it would have been tough.”
After suffering an embarrassing 3-1 defeat against India earlier this year, England will be looking to settle the score when Virat Kohli’s men tour England. Meanwhile, a second-string Indian team will be touring Sri Lanka for the white ball series.