Australia vs India: Matthew Wade Says Australia "Fully Expect" To Play 4th Test In Brisbane

Australia batsman Matthew Wade on Sunday said that there will be a potentially harder quarantine or bio-security bubble in Brisbane once they travel there for the fourth Test against India. Australia and India will face each other in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 7 and then both sides will travel to Brisbane for the fourth Test, set to begin from January 15. However, as per a report in Cricbuzz, India have expressed their unwillingness to travel to Brisbane for the fourth Test if they are confined to their hotel rooms when they are not playing or training.

"From my position, there is no uncertainty, there is a lot of talk out there and we understand it. For us as a group, we are just thinking about that we are going to play the third Test at Sydney and then we will go to Brisbane for the fourth Test, until the powers that be knock on our door and tell us that it is going to change, we are going to roll onto the next game, expecting what it is going to be, it is out of our control," said Wade during a virtual press conference on Sunday.

"There is a little bit of uncertainty around that, it will be a potentially harder quarantine or bio-security bubble in Brisbane than we have over here, that is for sure. No one knows the finals details about it yet but there will be a stricter protocol in Brisbane than here. We prefer not to sacrifice the Test at Brisbane, the schedule has been rolled out, there was some speculation in staying in Melbourne as well but we stuck to it, we fully expect to travel to Brisbane to play the fourth Test," he added.

Speaking on Australia's impeccable record at the Gabba in Brisbane, Wade said: "There is no secret that we like starting our summer at Brisbane, our record is very good there and we tend to play good cricket there. India has got an amazing bowling lineup so we certainly won't take it for granted when we get there at the Gabba, but yeah we love to play in Brisbane, we will be more comfortable playing as per the schedule rather than playing back-to-back Tests at Sydney if it comes down to it. There is no secret that we love Gabba."

"A lot of players knew that it would not be an ideal situation coming into this series, if something went south then we will have to make more sacrifices along the way, as a group we understand that and we are ready for the challenge," he added.

Cricket Australia on Saturday said that Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, and Navdeep Saini have been put in isolation as a precautionary measure after these five players were seen eating at an indoor venue in Melbourne on New Year's day. Both Cricket Australia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are also investigating this matter.

Cricket Australia on Wednesday had informed that the hosts will train in Melbourne on January 2 and 3 before moving to Sydney on January 4.

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