Australia v India tour: Allan Border says Australia must not bow down to India on scheduling changes
India wants to shift the traditional New Year’s Test for welfare reasons, but legendary former Aussie cricket captain Allan Border isn’t buying it, urging Cricket Australia to stick to its guns.
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Allan Border has slammed the plan to delay the Sydney Test, adamant Cricket Australia should not have to kowtow to Indian demands.
As reported by The Daily Telegraph, India has requested the traditional New Year’s Test be shifted to January 7 for welfare reasons, so players have a longer rest after Boxing Day.
But Test captaincy great Border isn’t copping what he perceives as a power play, angry that “mind games” from India are now disrupting the prime of holiday summertime in Australia.
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“I don’t think it should be a negotiated scenario,” Border told Fox Sports News.
“If it’s necessary because of what’s happening globally with the virus than fair enough, but if it’s just because they want a bit of a spell off between Boxing Day and the New Year’s Test match then that’s rubbish.
“We’ve been doing this for how many years now, back-to-back Test matches? It works a treat through that Christmas-New Year period and I wouldn’t be comfortable with it moving just because India want a couple more days off.
“I think they’re just playing mind games.
“They consider themselves the strength of world cricket, and financially that is the case, so they do have a fair say in things.
“But if the roles were reversed, we wouldn’t have much say in the itinerary, it would just be put in front of us and these are the dates that we’re going to play.
“You can negotiate as much as you like but these are traditional dates that everyone knows have been in the calendar forever, so to start negotiating now … it’s a tough one.
“I wouldn’t be bowing down to it – we’ve got traditional dates, let’s stick with them.”
The rescheduled IPL not finishing until November 10 has compromised the start of the Australian summer, because proceedings can’t start until Australian and Indian stars are out two-weeks of quarantine upon their return from Dubai.
It means the first Test won’t be until December 17 – much later than recent years, and the series won’t finish until January 19 – although that timeslot may prove popular for holiday-makers in Brisbane, where Cricket Australia has often struggled to draw early season crowds.
There is four days off between the first Test in Adelaide and the second Test on Boxing Day in Melbourne, but India have asked for a full week off between the MCG and SCG.
The Sydney Test does benefit from its usual January 3 start, in that most punters are still on holiday following the Christmas and New Year period.
Players will then have a three-day gap before the last Test at the Gabba starting on January 15, under the proposed schedule which Cricket Australia hopes to announce this week.
There is mystery surrounding the availability of Indian superstar Virat Kohli who has announced his wife Anushka Sharma is expecting their first child in January – but has not specified a due date or his playing plans.
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WILL VIRAT MAKE IT THROUGH AUSSIE SERIES?
The Sydney Test looks set to be pushed back in a move which casts further doubt over father-to-be Virat Kohli’s availability to play out the whole series.
India wants their players to be afforded a longer break after Boxing Day and have requested for the traditional New Year’s Test to not start until January 7.
Since Kohli and his Bollywood star wife, Anushka Sharma announced six weeks ago that they were expecting their first baby in “January”, there has been no word on a more specific due date, or indication about how the Indian skipper might plan to juggle the biggest moment of his personal life with going into battle against Australia.
With a fourth Test to follow in Brisbane, the series won’t finish before the 19th or 20th of January, leaving precious few days in the month for baby Kohli to arrive at a time that wouldn’t clash with the cricket.
Cricket Australia is desperately hoping to release the Indian schedule this week following a month of tedious red tape delays, as the game braces for what it means when Channel 7 lodges their contract dispute with CA at an independent tribunal on Tuesday.
Channel 7 insiders say they had informed CA of their intention to go to the tribunal both verbally and in writing. But CA officials still claimed on Monday that they were told nothing about the network’s arbitration play.
There a couple of quirks to be confirmed with the summer schedule – including a plan to start the competition-wide Big Bash League hub in Tasmania – but the most curious of all is a four-Test series that doesn’t finish until two thirds of the way through January.
Anushka Sharma is reportedly in Dubai with Kohli at the moment for the IPL, but it’s unknown whether the couple would consider having the baby in Australia and replicate Candice and David Warner’s efforts to have their third child in the UK midway through last year’s World Cup.
COVID-19 has compromised air travel, and even though Kohli could probably quite easily return to India or the UAE on a private jet at the drop of a hat, he would struggle to return to Australia and play again in the series due to the two-week quarantine requirements.
It’s still yet to be confirmed whether any Indian players can bring their families out with them into the Australian bubble, although there have been reports out of India that their touring party could exceed 50 people.
The Sydney Test usually starts on January 3 or 4, and a January 7 start has not happened since the fateful summer of 2014-15, when the summer dates changed due to the tragic passing of Phillip Hughes and the SCG match was delayed to allow players more rest following a hectic period of back-to-back Tests.
With a minimum of three days off scheduled between all Test matches, the final Gabba Test couldn’t start before January 15 – meaning it will run on a collision course with the Australian Open tennis during the daytime hours.
Australian cricket is watching on with interest on Tuesday to see how Cricket Australia responds – if at all – to Channel 7’s bid to start tribunal proceedings, in their quest to have an independent expert give their verdict on the new value of the TV rights deal.
Cricket Australia could seek a court injunction to stop Channel 7 lodging at the tribunal, but the governing body has not indicated whether that would be a consideration.
Channel 7 says the assessment given by an independent expert appointed by the tribunal over what the rights are worth would be binding, after the network 15 days ago commenced termination proceedings based on a claim that CA have breached their contract.
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