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India's biggest cricketing biggest festival, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is underway and therefore all the Indian cricketers are involved with their respective franchises. But once this T20 league will be done and dusted, the players will reunite for their home series against South Africa in June. And it seems the players will finally get rid of bio-bubble if the reports are to be believed.
According to a report in news agency PTI, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may host the entire series without a bio-bubble. The Indian cricket board is deciding to do so keeping the mental well-being of its players into consideration. Notably, bio-bubbles became necessary for almost every series the players took part in, in the post-Covid world.
"If all goes well and things remain in control like it is right now, there will be no bio-bubbles and hard quarantine during the home series against South Africa," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity. "Then we are going to Ireland and England and there won't be any bio-bubble in those countries too," he added.
Players to get periodic rests
The BCCI source also informed that the board is aware of the effect of bio-bubbles on players' mental health and therefore is trying to sustainably use them. In the same light, the board may give periodic rests to its players after consultation with the team head coach Rahul Dravid.
"Some players have got periodic breaks but if you look at the bigger picture, living in a bio-bubble one series after another and now two months of IPL is simply exhausting for the players," he said. "There are five T20 Internationals between June 9 to 19 in five cities. Obviously, all the players won't be playing all the games. Some might be given total rest and some might play a few games," he added.
Notably, India will host South Africa for a five-match T20I series from 9 June to 19 June. The matches will be played in stadiums across five cities- Delhi, Cuttack, Vizag, Rajkot, and Bengaluru.