'It's really a shame what has happened in the media' - Baby store owner comes to the support of Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya

Life in the bio bubble is certainly not easy. And, it is tougher, when a cricket team is on a long tour in a faraway land. And, it is also challenging if the team has to stay in a bio bubble for one and half months after most of the players have already spent nearly two months in a previous bubble.

If you are wondering what this is all about, most of the Indian players who are a part of the current Indian squad on the tour to Australia had already been a part of a fully secured bio bubble from September till the second week of November for the 13th edition of the IPL in the UAE. Immediately after the sapping tournament, the Indian players had straightaway flown to Australia for a full-fledged series Down Under.

Just a few days ago, five Indian players were accused of a bio bubble breach in Melbourne. The five cricketers are Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Navdeep Saini, and Prithvi Shaw. Now, another accusation has been levied on the Indian players and it has been alleged that Indian skipper Virat Kohli and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya had also breached the bubble protocols.

However, the owner of the baby shop, Nathan Pongrass has dismissed these claims, and has even termed Kohli and Pandya as ‘lovely people’. Pongrass further added that there were no restrictions in New South Wales when the duo made their visit to the store, and also said that the two Indian cricketers were very generous.

“They came in and spent a little bit of time. At that stage, there were no restrictions in New South Wales. We wanted to give them gifts but they wanted to pay for everything. They were just so generous with their time. They spent time talking with our staff. They were just lovely people,” revealed Pongrass in a chat with Sports Today.

I don’t think there were masks

Pongrass also stated that the entire Baby Village team is very proud that the Indian cricketers had decided to pay a visit to their store and it was for this reason that the picture of the duo had been out on social media.

“They were kind enough to take a couple of photos with our team, which wanted to share the experience with family members. We put that on social media to just show we were being proud that they had chosen to visit our store.”

Pongrass further added that there were not many cases in New South Wales when Kohli and Pandya visited the store and even pregnant ladies were not wearing masks. Pongrass concluded by saying that the way the issue has been portrayed in the media is extremely shameful.

“I don’t think there were masks. As I said before, at that time, there weren’t many new cases in New South Wales. If you looked through the streets, one in 50 people were wearing masks. Older people were wearing and even some pregnant ladies weren’t wearing masks in Sydney. It’s really a shame what has happened in the media because of it.”

Amidst all this cacophony and off field drama, the Third Test will take place on 7th January 2021, at the Sydney Cricket Ground(SCG).