Focus was on a star cricketer who took 27 bags to Australia and the new rules implemented by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the Indian team left Mumbai for Dubai to participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, starting from February 19.
The Rohit Sharma-led India senior men’s cricket team is one of the favourites for the title following its recent 3-0 brownwash of a strong England team at home.
India will be playing all its Group A matches at the Dubai International Stadium, while the rest of the games will take place in Pakistan as part of the hybrid format negotiated by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the BCCI informed it that the Indian government has now allowed the team to travel to Pakistan.
The initial plan was for the team to leave in batches of two or three to Dubai but the team had to leave together because of the BCCI's new policy guidelines issued last month following the debacle in Australia.
Along with implementing many measures, BCCI's policy guidelines make it mandatory for the team to travel together for tours abroad.
Another guideline of the BCCI's new policy was implemented as the team flew off to Dubai as the BCCI is strictly monitoring the bags that the players are taking on tours at the board's expense. As per the new protocol, a player is now allowed to take a maximum of 150 kg of baggage on a tour, has to travel with the team, and can take his family members only for two weeks on tours that exceed 45 days. It is also mandatory for the players to train together on the tour and play in domestic tournaments when not on national duty.
According to a report in the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, one of the reasons for the restrictions on excess baggage was that a star Indian player carried 27 bags to various venues across Australia at the BCCI's expense.
It was recently revealed that the said star player of the Indian squad toured Australia for the Border-Gavsakar Trophy series with 27 bags, which included 17 cricket bats. Though the name of the player was not revealed, considering the performance of some of the top players during BGT 2024-25, carrying those 17 bats around did not help the player much. The bags also included luggage of the star player's family and assistant who travelled with him as an entourage on the entire tour.
Those 27 bags made up a weight of 250 kgs, which was way over the limit, and seeing the star player bringing in extra bags, some other players also followed suit and carried weight and bags over the permitted limit.
Carrying those extra bags cost BCCI a few lakhs of rupees and with other players too following suit, it would have cost BCCI much more in the upcoming tours.
The Champions Trophy has finally given the BCCI an opportunity to implement the recent policy guidelines strictly and thus ensure some sort of discipline in the squad.
