Guwahati: Former opener Virender Sehwag lashed out at the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the Indian team had apparently expressed its displeasure with the “cold” welcome in Sydney in terms of their dietary requirements after Tuesday’s optional training session ahead of their T20 World Cup match against the Netherlands on Thursday.
For the uninitiated, during World Cups and other multi-nation tournaments like the Champions Trophy, the ICC takes care of food and lodging, unlike in bilateral series, where the host association is in charge of the hospitality.
On Tuesday, several Indian cricketers reportedly decided to skip lunch at the Sydney Cricket Ground after their training session as sources close to the team claimed that the food offered was cold and inadequate.
Reacting to the team’s claims, Sehwag not only took a dig at the global governing body’s standards of hospitality but also indirectly hit out at the hosts.
“Gone are the days when one used to think that the Western countries offer so good hospitality. India is way ahead of most western countries when it comes to providing hospitality of the highest standards,” Sehwag said in a tweet on Wednesday.
According to reports, the dressing room food menu contained fruits, falafel and custom sandwiches, which the players felt weren’t sufficient after the two-hour net session that ended by mid-afternoon. And accordingly, most of the members of the Indian team decided to skip the food offered at the venue, and headed back to the hotel for a meal of their choice.
It was also learnt that the team had lodged an unofficial complaint with the officials present on the ground for the post-training food.
Tuesday’s optional training session was attended by most of the senior members, including skipper Rohit Sharma and his predecessor Virat Kohli. Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin and Deepak Hooda, along with the team’s support staff were also part of the session.
It was learnt that the team management decided to rest the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and the pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar after the four-wicket victory over Pakistan in Sunday’s thriller at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Meanwhile, the Indian team decided to skip their Wednesday’s practice session. Reason – the ICC has scheduled India’s session at Blacktown in the suburbs of Sydney, some 42 km away from the city.
The SCG will host a double header on Thursday, with Bangladesh clashing against South Africa in the first match before India take on the Dutch side in the evening game. And as such, the other three sides barring India had their training sessions at the SCG on Wednesday.
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