Australia has taken a stringent decision of imposing a six-month travel ban in the country which means no other country people will be allowed to visit Australia for the next 6 months. Travel ban in Australia is initiated in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic. A six-month ban means no teams will be allowed to cross the Australian border and enter the country for the upcoming tournaments which are lined up in Australia including T20 World Cup and the tour by the Indian team.
India’s Future our Programme (FTP) including the thrilling face-offs and Test matches will be drastically affected by the Australian Government’s decision to seal its border for the next six months due to the increasing spread of COVID-19 Pandemic. India’s tour was originally scheduled to begin with T20 tri-series in October and was going to end with the test matches in December. The T20 World Cup was scheduled to start from 18th October 2020 but it seems like the mega-event future is under clouds in this uncertainty due to novel coronavirus Pandemic. Australia saw the rose in COVID-19 cases, the no of cases has reached the mark of 2000 with 16 deaths which prompted the Australian Government to impose a travel ban in Australia & seal the Australian borders for the next six months!
BCCI led by Sourav Ganguly has to look after for alternate plans amid Coronavirus which has resulted in almost 30,000 deaths across the world. BCCI is under great pressure as it seems impossible to conduct Indian Premier League this year due to the nationwide lockdown but BCCI is yet to take its final call on IPL 2020, BCCI is under concern for not only IPL but also International events that are lined up such as tours of Sri-Lanka for ODIs & T20s, Zimbabwe Asia Cup (T20) and test series against England which may be canceled looking at the rapid spread of COVID-19.
“We are not in a position to comment anything as Australia announced a six-month travel ban, there are possibilities that hopefully when the situation gets under control the ban would be lifted”, a senior BCCI office-bearer said to Media.
But those who know the practicality of FTP events can accept that such a travel ban can create a problem for the T20 tri-series which will commence at the beginning of October and involves Australia and England.
“If the international travel ban exists for the complete six months then the commencement of the T20I series will become a problem before the start of the T20 World Cup.
“Under this six-month travel ban, the processing of Visa and tickets will become a logistical problem for India. Also, not only India’s tour to Australia is scheduled but England’s team is also scheduled to come to India in September for their test match series. Will things become normal in the next 6 months in the UK and players will be allowed to visit India. There are big concerns which are not cleared yet”, another BCCI official said.
“The most disturbing aspect is that we can’t even take any firm decision about anything as the situation varies from country to country. The whole world has become helpless and we can only wait and watch”, the source added.
Australia’s six-month travel ban can affect further commencements of International and National tournaments of team India!
