Queensland has sent a blunt message to the Indian cricket team after an official grumbled about quarantine, igniting an international troll war on social media.
The test match is due to be played on January 15, but since the team will be coming from coronavirus-hit Sydney they will be required to stick by quarantine rules.
‘If the Indians do not want to play by the rules, don’t come,’ said Queensland’s opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates on Sunday.
That message was backed up by the opposition sport spokesman Tim Mander who said the same rules had to apply for everyone.
‘If the Indian cricket team wants to spit the dummy and disregard quarantine guidelines in Brisbane for the fourth Test, then they shouldn’t come.’
India’s Rohit Sharma (right) with team coach Ravi Shastri (left) in Melbourne on Saturday. India is unhappy about quarantine and may ask to move the fourth test from the Gabba to the SCG
The blunt message set off a storm of words on social media.
Recently retired Indian cricket great Wasim Jaffer openly trolled Ms Bates on Twitter.
The batsman posted a picture of English cricketer Jofra Archer with a knowing grin on his face.
‘Indian team with Border-Gavaskar trophy in the bag,’ he wrote.
Archer was sanctioned for breaching the English team’s biosecurity rules by visiting his home during a Test series with the West Indies last year.
Retired Indian cricketing great Wasim Jaffer trolled Ms Bates with a picture of Jofra Archer, English cricketer who breached biosecurity rules, saying India had the trophy in the bag
The post sparked robust discussion among Indian cricket fans, some of whom taunted Australia.
‘Aussies are scared of loss at SCG,’ wrote one.
Several more Twitter jibes were aimed at Australia’s ‘sandpapergate’ debacle, referring to the shameful ball-tampering incident in 2018.
Bowler Cameron Bancroft was caught by television cameras trying to rough up one side of the ball with sandpaper to make it swing in flight during a Test against South Africa.
Another wrote that if India were to play the Tests in Sydney then Australia might lose 3-1 ‘as this time there is no punter or Symonds for the cheats they did in famous monkeygate 2007 series. She should know that Aussies are master at breaking rules’.
The Gabba Test is seen as crucial to Australia’s chances with the series currently locked at 1-1, given they have not been beaten at the ground since 1988
The teams fly to Sydney on Monday to continue preparations for the third Test, before flying to Queensland for the fourth and final match (pictured, the Australian team on December 19)
The monkeygate scandal during the 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Test series was one of the most spiteful lows in cricket, when Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh called Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds a monkey.
Symonds was the only non-white player in Australia’s squad.
Harbhajan was hit with a three-Test suspension at the end of the New Year’s Test, which still rankles with some Indian fans.
Cricket Australia said on Sunday morning that they had not formally been approached over the matter, but the two national boards talk daily
The most recent spat has been broadcast over the national media in cricket-mad India, and the Gabba is at risk of losing the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The battle of words began when an unnamed Indian official told Cricbuzz the Indian team were sick of quarantining.
‘If you look at it, we were quarantining for 14 days in Dubai before landing in Sydney and doing so for another 14 days,’ the official said.
Shadow health spokeswoman Ros Bates was confused for the Queensland’s Health Minister as outraged Indian fans took to social media to slam Australia for all it’s own shortcomings
‘That means we were in a hard bubble for nearly a month before coming out. What we don’t want now is to quarantine again at the end of the tour.’
However Queensland, which has shut its border to NSW, is taking no chances with the coronavirus outbreak so close to a vaccine being rolled out.
The Australian and Indian cricket squads have received exemptions to travel to Brisbane on a chartered flight – but will be playing under quarantine conditions.
That means the team are confined to their hotel rooms when they are not playing or training.
India is reportedly sick of quarantining having had to do so more than once (pictured, the team’s Jasprit Bumrah during the Boxing Day test)
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young made no apologies.
‘If they come to Queensland after having been in declared hot spots, they will have to quarantine,’ she said on Sunday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly expressed their reluctance to travel to Brisbane although Cricket Australia says it has not been approached by India’s governing body on the issue.
Inside Sport reported on Sunday that the BCCI has decided to wait before making a final call on whether to ask Cricket Australia to move the fourth test from Brisbane to Sydney.
Five Indian players have been separated from their squad after allegedly breaking biosecurity protocols by eating at this Secret Kitchen restaurant, pictured Sunday
The Brisbane Test has been thrown into doubt as India does not want to endure a hard quarantine (pictured, India’s coach Ravi Shastri at a training session in Melbourne on Saturday)
‘It’s a fluid situation. Let’s wait for a few more days,’ a BCCI official reportedly told PTI news service.
Cricket Australia and the BCCI are also now investigating whether five of India’s players broke biosecurity protocols in Melbourne on Friday.
A video on social media appeared to show Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini eating inside a restaurant.
Players and staff within team hubs must sit outside when dining away from their hotel, as part of the sport’s strict protocols that have allowed the summer to go ahead.
The quintet have been separated from the rest of India’s squad, however they will be able to continue training.
Any penalties would be determined by the BCCI, while Cricket Australia handed down fines to two Brisbane Heat players last month for similar breaches.
Source link