ICC official response to the dissatisfaction of the Indian players in the T20 World Cup, as Team India forgoes lunch and returns to their hotel in Sydney after a practice session.
After their practice session at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground), Rohit Sharma and company were disappointed to find only fruits, cold sandwiches, and falafel. The Indian cricketers, who are used to eating a big, scrumptious supper after working out in the nets for nearly three hours, were not satisfied with the menu.
ICC’s take on this
The majority of the Indian players skipped lunch on Tuesday, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but the International Cricket Council (ICC) stated it is looking into the situation and pledged to resolve it quickly.
The Situation Explained
After their practice session at the SCG, the Indian cricket team anticipated a big supper. However, instead what they received were only fruits, cold sandwiches, and falafel. Hence, the majority of the Indian cricketers chose to return to the hotel for a full feast, but several did take them (falafel and fruits).
Furthermore, the ICC, not the host association, is in charge of ensuring accommodation and food during the World Cup.
ICC Receiving Criticism from everywhere
BCCI, unofficially expressed their unhappiness to the ICC. An anonymous ICC source has revealed that the Indian team has informed ICC of their problems with the post-practice meal. The problem will be resolved since they are attempting to figure it out.
An anonymous BCCI officer who was aware of the development spoke to PTI and said that it’s not a boycott. Although some players had fruits and falafel, everyone wanted to have lunch, so they all ate after returning to the hotel.
The official further added that the issue is unavailability of hot food from the ICC after noon. The host association is in charge of catering in a bilateral series, and they always serve hot Indian dinners following a training session. However, for the ICC, the standard applies to all nations.
The course of happenings also elicited outrage from former Indian batter Virender Sehwag, who without citing anyone made fun of the amiability of western countries.
Reasons for Dissatisfaction
Suryakumar Yadav was the only Indian batter not present during India’s reclusive practice session ahead of their scheduled Super 12 match against the Netherlands. Since, the allocated practice area is roughly 40 kilometers from Sydney and the players would rather not go that far a day before the match, the Indian team opted not to upskill, on Wednesday.
Talking about the all-rounders, two of them, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel, along with the fast bowlers decided not to attend the practice session.
Following a tense encounter against Pakistan in Melbourne, India traveled for almost five hours to arrive in Sydney. And, it must be taken into consideration that after this much traveling, the Indian players received a cold gesture of hospitality from the ICC’s side.
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