The BCCI has reportedly lodged a complaint with the ICC after Indian players were forced to order their meal online due to lack of hot food on the menu after a practice session at Sydney on Tuesday, 25 October.
Earlier a PTI report suggested that the players were displeased with the food served to them after their optional training session on Tuesday. Following the incident, the BCCI has has now reached out to the world cricketing body to bring about a solution regarding the matter.
"BCCI has told ICC that food provided after practice is inadequate. BCCI has further told ICC - How can you give cold sandwiches after 3 hours of practice for lunch? Sandwiches are not even made, players have to make their own sandwiches. This is not acceptable to us. Problem was in Melbourne and now Sydney. ICC had promised to look into it but hot food is the basic. Why wasn’t it looked at earlier?" top sources told Times Now.
"There’s inadequate food for players after practice. They had to get food delivered for lunch via Uber/deliveroo which is not acceptable," the sources added.
The after-practice menu had reportedly left the Indian team members displeased with few of them deciding to have food back in their hotel rooms.
The training session was attended by all members of the side except the fast bowlers, who were given a day off to rest. Besides the fast bowlers, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, batter Suryakumar Yadav and spinner Axar Patel were also rested.
The post-training menu apparently had custom sandwich along with fruits and falafel. However, the players were expecting a proper lunch as the practice got extended till afternoon.
“It's not like any boycott... Some players did pick up fruits and falafel but everyone wanted to have lunch and hence they had food going back to the hotel,” a BCCI official told PTI.
Meanwhile, ICC oversees the arrangement of food during the 2022 T20 World Cup while during a bilateral series it’s the host nation’s responsibility to provide proper food.
“The problem is that the ICC isn't providing any hot food after lunch. In a bilateral series, the host association is in charge of catering and they always provide hot Indian meals after a training session. But for ICC, the rule is the same for all countries," the BCCI official said further.
"You can't just have a cold sandwich (not even grilled) with avocado, tomato and cucumber after two hours of training. That is plain and simple inadequate nourishment," the official added.
Meanwhile, Team India are set to take on Netherlands in their second Super 12 match on Thursday, 27 October. India began their World Cup campaign in style with a four-wicket win over Pakistan while Netherlands suffered a nine-run defeat to Bangladesh in their opening fixture.
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