Indian cricket team to get 20-day break from bio-buble life after WTC Final 2021

The Indian cricket team will get a 20-day break from the bubble life in the UK after the World Test Championship Final 2021 against New Zealand, sources in the team management revealed. After the WTC Final, the Men in Blue are looking to face England in a five-match Test series. To give them a much-needed break from the restrictions of the bio-bubble environment, the team management has decided that after the WTC Final, the Indian cricket team will disperse on June 24 and then re-group in the bio-bubble on July 14 ahead of the Test matches.  

"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," the source told ANI.

Even as the boys get a 20-day break after India vs New Zealand Test series, the source stated that the players will not be allowed to leave the UK for this time period. "See, it is simple. The boys need to switch off and relax, but we cannot ignore that COVID-19 is still not completely gone. So, the travel plans have to be made in such a way that the boys and the families that are in UK don't get stuck somewhere while taking the break. Imagine going to some other country and then that place gets a travel ban due to a sudden rise in cases. You don't want your players or their families stuck. So, we are looking at places in the UK," the source explained.

Virat Kohli voices need for break

Before leaving for England, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had voiced the need for a break after the WTC Final 2021, talking about how India had the pressure of the five-match series as well. "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," he said. 

"Just the fact that we had the freedom to go out and access the kind of things there, it gave us space to refresh and reset. I think it is absolutely fine, it will give us time to refresh and prepare for a long series," he added. 

Team India has been in a stringent bio-bubble environment ever since they arrived in England on June 3. The inaugural edition of the WTC final will take place in Southampton, starting June 18.

(With Agency Inputs)