Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon has asked the Indian cricket team to 'stop complaining' about severe restrictions for the fourth Test in Brisbane and 'suck it up and get on with it'.
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According to a report published in Cricbuzz, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side is unwilling to travel to Brisbane for the final Test if they are confined to their hotel rooms when they are not playing or training.
"I know there are a few people from both squads who have been in a bubble for close to six months now but in my eyes it is a very small sacrifice for us to go out there and play the game we love and put a lot of smiles on a lot of people's faces around the world," Lyon said while speaking to the media on Monday (January 4) morning, as quoted by IANS.
"In my eyes, we just have to suck it up, get out there and get on with it and play for our respective countries and make sure we are playing a really competitive brand of cricket."
The Indian team's reported reluctance has come in the wake of a controversy which saw five players namely Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Navdeep Saini and Prithvi Shaw being put in isolation after a video of them at an indoor restaurant went viral on social media.
Cricket Australia has also announced a joint investigation with the BCCI to determine whether the case violated the bio-security protocol for the series.
"It (the restrictions) has all been okay in my eyes. As I said before, we just need to suck it up and get on with it. People make mistakes we get that but it is just making sure that we go out there and try and make sure that we prepare the best way we can for the Test match and not looking to anything else that media is blowing up at all or anything like that," Lyon said.
"We just have to listen to the advice of our medical people and here in Cricket Australia we are very lucky that we have got an amazing medical team but to be honest, let us just suck it up, get on with it and stop complaining," the 98-Test veteran added.
Asked if he is preparing a Plan B in case the fourth Test moves from Brisbane to Sydney, Lyon said he is sticking to Plan A as he hasn't heard anything about the fourth Test getting shifted from the Gabba.
"100% going and playing in Brisbane and sticking with Plan A. We have heard nothing as players. Obviously, we have to travel to Sydney today, then rip in there, hopefully get the result up there we are after and straight after that fly to Brisbane. We all know how much we love playing at Gabba and we know our result there as well with our record."
"I am not really worried about what is being reported. For us, it is about worrying about what we can control and the information that we are receiving from the people in Cricket Australia and our medical people is just about us making sure that we are very well prepared for the Sydney test.
"Everyone keeps talking about the Gabba Test match but there's a massive Test match in just a couple of days at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) and that's where all our focus is 100 per cent at. So we just have to get on with it. That is my honest opinion."
The tourists had won the Boxing Day Test by 8 wickets to level the series at 1-1. The third Test will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 7.
(With IANS inputs)
