The Indian Cricket Board, or BCCI, plans to take things strictly for the Indian team after a disastrous tour in Australia. Speaking to India Today, sources say the BCCI intends to limit family time during tours, restricting wives and girlfriends from traveling with players for more than two weeks on extended tours lasting over a month. The players will also have to travel together in team buses and pay for extra luggage themselves.

What Are The New Rules By BCCI?

As mentioned by India Today, the new rules are:

• If a tournament is a 45-day or longer event, families will only be allowed to stay with players for 14 days.

If the tour is shorter, the duration may be reduced to 7 days.

Wives cannot stay with players for the entire tournament.

Families can only stay for 2 weeks.

All players will have to travel on the team bus.

Gautam Gambhir’s personal manager will not be allowed to sit in the VIP box or travel on the team bus. He will have to stay in a different hotel.

If players’ luggage exceeds 150 kg, BCCI will not cover the extra charges, and players will have to pay them.

Why Are New Rules Implemented?

These decisions come after India’s 1-3 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Along with the series defeat, media reports indicated a tense atmosphere within the team, with several controversies surrounding the tour. These included Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement, a player controversially claiming the interim captaincy, and Rohit Sharma’s surprising decision to leave himself out of the final match. The BCCI recently held a review meeting with Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir following the series. While the BCCI has been in no haste to change the line-up, it is evident that with the Champions Trophy scheduled next, they fear that hasty decisions will undermine the team’s morale as well as that of the support staff.As per now there’s no official statement by BCCI but if this happens then it will be the most drastic measure taken.