Former Australian captain Tim Paine revealed that the news of the bio-bubble breach by some of the Indian Players during the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 had irked many Australian cricketers. The matter had come to the limelight when one of the fans had shared a video of Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, and Navdeep Saini dining inside a Melbourne restaurant, hence infringing the bio-bubble security.
Initially, the fan who had made the video said he had settled the players’ expenses and hugged one of them. He then changed his statement, saying the Indian players kept their distance. The players were investigated by the Indian Cricket Board for the bio-bubble violation, according to reports in the Australian media but the board, however, later denied any such claims.
Paine made the revelations in the docu-series ‘Bandon Mein Tha Dum’, created by director Neeraj Pandey, which was released yesterday on Voot Select. The documentary highlights India’s miraculous victory in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020/21 featuring players from both sides.
“I mean those 4-5 guys put the whole Test series at risk. For what? For a bowl of Nando’s, chips, or wherever they went like I just find that pretty selfish to be honest,” Paine said.
The event even annoyed many Australian players, who were spending Christmas away from family and friends, according to Pat Cummins, the current captain of the Australian Test team. “It did annoy quite a few of the boys. Especially the ones who had to spend Christmas without their families. That was sacrificing quite a bit to be there on that tour to hear that the other team were flouting the rules and not taking it as seriously,” said Cummins.
However, Ajinkya Rahane said that the report was baseless and that the Indian players were only waiting for their takeout order: “The players who appeared in the pictures were actually waiting for their takeaway order. Due to bad weather, they had to wait inside. The story that appeared in the news was really wrong.”