By Swastika Chowdhury
In response to India’s 1-3 loss in the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2024-25 against Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly announced new guidelines for improving player performance and management.
The board reportedly held a review meeting in Mumbai with head coach Gautam Gambhir, captain Rohit Sharma, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar, where several key policy changes were discussed, focussing on accountability, discipline and performance enhancement. One of the significant changes under consideration of pre-2019 rules limiting the duration of players’ family accompanying them on overseas tours. Under the new guidelines, families will be allowed to join players for 14 days on tours lasting 45 days or longer, and for 7 days on shorter tours.
This decision comes after concerns that the extended presence of family members during long tours, such as the recent series in Australia, may have affected players’ attention, concentration and performance levels.
Some other significant rules laid out by the Board are as follows:
- Participation in domestic cricket tournaments made mandatory for national selection
- Players no longer permitted to travel solo for tours/matches or training
- Personal staff to be restricted for accompanying during series/tours
- No personal shoots/endorsements during a series/tours while ensuring availability for BCCI shoots/functions
The BCCI is also set to enforce stricter travel protocols, requiring all players to travel together on the team bus. This move will eliminate the previous exceptions that allowed senior players to use separate transport, with the goal of enhancing team unity and discipline.
The wealthiest cricket governing body of India headquartered in Mumbai’s Churchgate, came up with a new set of guidelines for the players after it got stung with the recent losses that the Indian team led to. Non-compliance of the following rules could lead to disciplinary actions against players, including sanctions from participating in BCCI-conducted tournaments including IPL.