The President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and cricket legend Sourav Ganguly this week confirmed that the India tour of Australia scheduled later this year will go ahead. The Virat Kohli-led India are scheduled to play three ODIs, four Tests and three T20Is in Australia in December-January.

“We have confirmed that tour. In December we will be coming. We just hope the number of quarantine days get reduced a bit because we don’t want the players to go all that far and sit in hotel rooms for two weeks. It is very, very depressing and disappointing,” Ganguly was quoted by a leading Indian publication India Today. India toured Australia for a Test series in 2018/19 and won that series as the hosts were still reeling from the aftermath of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and were without star batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner.

The BCCI chief also confirmed that the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) is still searching for a window this season. Notably, the International Cricket Council will be deciding the future of the T20 World Cup, later this month, which is scheduled for October-November in Australia. According to Ganguly that decision will have a bearing on the fate of IPL.

Cricket Australia advertises for a mental health expert role

In a first, Cricket Australia (CA) is set to appoint a mental health professional soon, with the role – a new position of a mental health and well-being lead – reporting to the board’s head of sports science and medicine Alex Kountouris, advertised last week. This comes as three active players including star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell took sabbaticals last year citing mental health issues, due to high pressure nature of international cricket. Notably, CA has two sports psychologists, Michael Lloyd for the men’s team and Peter Clarke for women’s, and the new role will provide broader case management support to all CA contracted players.

-TIN Bureau