The COVID-19 pandemic and mandatory quarantine restrictions around it has forced cricket boards to consider a system where they can send parallel teams to play different series at the same time. This is being done to address the tight Future Tour Programme and in India's case to maximise revenue for a fellow board during the pandemic. With the first choice Indian team touring England, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to send another team for a 6-match tour to Sri Lanka. The players on the Sri Lanka tour will be coached by Rahul Dravid who would be taking up the reigns of the a senior national team for the first time in his career. However, Dravid has questioned the viability of the parallel fixtures and has questioned the longevity of the whole system.
“This is a unique situation, quarantines and stuff. It’s very hard to predict what’s going to happen even on a month on month basis. But at this point in time, when travel between countries is a challenge, at least in the short term, something like this might have to be followed. India probably had no option but to do this,” Dravid said in a press conference that was organised before the Indian team left for the Lankan shores.
The former India captain and coach of the India U-19 and A teams over the last few years, Dravid also feels that it is not a long term solution as too many stakeholders are involved in running cricket and getting all of them on board would be very difficult.
“I’m not really sure if this is a long term solution. There are a lot of stakeholders, going to involve boards, sponsors, media rights… so much goes into all of this. But in the short term, this will ease the pressure,” he said.
“It’s getting difficult for the same set of players to go through all the restrictions that are there currently. In the long term, it will need a lot more discussion,” Dravid added.
The Indian team would be playing only three ODIs and as many T20Is ahead of the World Cup in October-November this year. All these T20Is would be played on this tour of Sri Lanka which begins on July 13 in Colombo. Thus, for players to make a mark, it would be one last opportunity before the Indian Premier League starts in September.
“We have a couple of selectors travelling with us, we’ll interact with them. Had a little bit of contact with the management in England. We didn’t want to disturb them during the WTC final, so will touch base with them over the next couple of weeks and plan,” Dravid said.