Last time when Team India travelled to the distant shores of Australia, there was a significant ruckus with the Indian players complaining of diabolical hotel service, poor staff behaviour and most importantly, racism.
As the T20 World Cup is going on at full swing, there was another incident that grabbed the eyeballs for all the wrong reasons in the world. The Indian players have again complained about being served poor quality food which was cold and at the same time, the sandwiches were not even grilled.
The Indian source who highlighted the problem mentioned that having a cold sandwich after an intense training session of two hours is simply malnourishment. Ideally, in case of a bilateral series, it is the host nation who is tasked with the onus of serving the foods for the playing teams.
However, when it comes to ICC, in a surprising manner, the food is provided by the apex cricketing authority. Now here the question is, were there foreign cooks who were summoned to do the culinary biding for the apex cricket board? Or were the Australian cooks not good enough to know the basic guidelines?
Well, keeping the debate aside, this is for the second consecutive time, Team India is struggling on the Australian shores. To be candid, we are all aware of the cricketing powerhouse that the Roos are and with iconic stadiums like MCG and SCG being a part of their rich heritage, this kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable.
Now when you are a part of the T20 World Cup, it is expected that the quality of service provided to the cricketers has to be top notch. Food is a primary part of any athlete’s nutrition. If you take away such an integral part from someone’s daily lifestyle or replace that with something which is third wheel, it is needless to say, either you haven’t been briefed in the job or there is an inside rivalry going on.
Which one is it, Australia? Why is it that whenever India travels to your shores, they have additional things to complain about barring cricket? How can a small country like Zimbabwe host a perfect bilateral series and you being a stalwart of the sport lack in the basic amenities?
Is it intentional? Well, I doubt not. But then it is unprofessional. When you are pandering to such an elite-level event, you need to understand that even the slightest of misdoings can be the reason why players suffer. This is the bare minimum knowledge that one needs to possess. And if you are unable to deliver the elite for the elites, maybe somewhere teams should reconsider visiting your prized shores.
