Australia vs India: Fresh COVID-19 cases in South Australia jeopardise Adelaide Test

India’s four-match Test series against Australia is scheduled to begin on December 17 at the Adelaide Oval. However, a month before the Day-Night pink-ball Test, Cricket Australia (CA) has much to think about due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in South Australia. A number of coronavirus cases in Adelaide has forced other states to close the borders with South Australia.

Tim Paine and his Tasmania teammates last played a first-class game in Adelaide and they have been prompted to go into self-isolation. Players from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia returned last week from their Sheffield Shield campaign in Adelaide.

“Like all people who have travelled from South Australia to Tasmania in the last seven days, the Tasmanian Tigers Sheffield Shield squad are self-isolating as we wait for further advice from Public Health. Players and staff have Covid-19 swab tests scheduled for later today,” a Cricket Tasmania spokesman was quoted as saying in ESPNcricinfo.

Adelaide also set to host BBL matches
On Monday, November 14, Queensland’s state government stated that those who are returning from South Australia since November 9 will have to undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing and a quarantine period of 14 days. Apart from India’s Test match, Adelaide is also set to host a few matches in the Big Bash League (BBL) from late December.

Darren Lehmann, the former Australia head coach, reckoned that the players would be trying their hearts out for the resumption of cricket in the country. “All players in the AFL, the NRL, made it work and their staff and families did. So, I can’t see that being different in cricket, making it happen for the good of the game,” Lehmann mentioned.

“First and foremost, we hope that they get to the bottom of that in South Australia and they contain that really well and then we can move forward to the hubs, whatever that may look like. You have just got to be flexible. That’s the 2020 model, the way everyone has been able to move quite quickly on the hop,” he added.

Apart from the four-match Test series, India will also play a three-match T20I and three-match ODI series, starting November 27. The players are currently quarantining in Sydney.