The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to limit family time for Indian players on international tours. The BCCI's reaction came following two disastrous Test series losses to New Zealand and Australia under Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir.
According to reports, the Indian team's head coach made the idea to cut back on family time. According to insiders, Gambhir wants to eliminate indiscipline in the Indian team and has advised that family time be reduced during both short and lengthy trips.
The new rules stated that if a tournament is a 45-day or longer event, families will only be allowed to stay with players for 14 days. In the case of shorter tours, the stay will be limited to only a week.
"Gautam Gambhir, during the review meeting, spoke about indiscipline in the Indian dressing room following the loss in the Border-Gavaskar series. Indiscipline is the reason why the BCCI is reverting to pre-COVID rules, allowing two weeks of family presence on tour. Gautam and the players were on the same page regarding the topic of family stays," sources told India Today.
Gambhir has also urged that the board and team management should be stricter with junior players. Several senior and junior cricketers went out to dinner during the Australian trip. According to sources, only one team dinner took place during the Australia tour, which lasted from November 2024 to January 2025.
Apart from Gambhir, another senior India player, who was present in the BCCI meeting with president Roger Binny suggested that the match fees should not be distributed immediately. The suggestion was the match fees should directly be proportional to the performance in the game.
"One senior player, who was present at the meeting, suggested to the BCCI that the match fee should not be distributed immediately. Instead, players' performance should be considered before disbursing the fee, as some players are not prioritizing domestic and national team commitments," sources said.
It is also understood that on the sidelines of the first T20I against England in Kolkata, Gautam Gambhir and a BCCI official may meet to discuss the recent controversies.
