The Board of Control for Cricket in India decided to reintroduce the old rule after Rohit Sharma led India's poor Cricket performance. Team India recently lost 1-3 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, and before that, New Zealand defeated India 3-0 in the three-match match series. The Indian cricket board reportedly took strict action by barring wives and family from accompanying players on the tours to improve performance.
The decision was taken after the BCCI review meeting in Mumbai, which was attended by skipper Rohit Sharma, head coach Gautam Gambhir, chief selector Ajit Agarkar, and board members.
As per a report in Dainik Jagran, BCCI wants to re-introduce the old rule, which was disposed of during COVID-19. They reported that an official from BCCI's Mumbai office told them that wives and family members would not be allowed to travel with the players of the Indian team for the entire tour. The board officials believe that staying with the players during the tour, especially during overseas assignments, affects their performance. During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, wives and families of many cricketers were in Australia for the entire tour.
As per the new rule, for a tournament or a series lasting more than 45 days, the wife and families of a player can stay with them for only 14 days and for the shorter tours, the family stay will be reduced to just seven days.
Rule for team bus
Apart from that, BCCI also set a rule that no player will be allowed separately during a tour. This has reportedly been imposed after the board officials witnessed that for the last few years, some of the Indian players are travelling separately instead of the team bus. "Keeping in view the team unity, now all the players will travel by the team bus only. No matter how big a player is, he will not be allowed to travel separately," read the report.
New rule for Gautam Gambhir
India head coach Gautam Gambhir's manager Gaurav Arora has been travelling with Team India. He is travelling in the team bus. The report added that Arora would no longer be allowed to stay in the same hotel as the Indian team or be allowed to sit in the VIP box in stadiums. He has also been barred from availing the team bus.