IND vs NZ | Bio-bubble fatigue does take its toll, weighs players down after a while, admits Tim Southee
Tim Southee admitted that bio-bubble fatigue weighs players down after a while, as he reflected on the packed scheduling and quarantine protocols. Southee, who will lead New Zealand in T20I series in India, was hopeful that teams will not have to play in the bio-secure environment for too long.
New Zealand, who finished the T20 World Cup 2021 runners-up, going down to Australia by eight wickets in the final on Sunday, November 14, are set to take on India in a three-match T20I series, beginning Wednesday.
They will miss the services of regular captain Kane Williamson, with Tim Southee set to lead the team in shortest format against India. With the packed scheduling and quarantine protocols over the last two years due to the covid-19 pandemic, players have found it extremely tough in bio-secure bubbles.
Sharing the challenges faced by players, Southee said that the bio-bubble fatigue does take its toll on players, and it weighs them down after a while
"With what's happened in the world in the last couple of years, it's made things a lot tougher with bubbles, quarantine, and it does take its toll," Southee said while interacting with the media online from Jaipur on Tuesday. "After a while we don't know what's going to happen in the future, whether we're going to have to continue to play in bubbles and schedules having more pressure on with quarantine time thrown in as well. It's something we can't control and something we just have to adapt to and get used to but it does take its toll. A few players have been in a number of bubbles for long periods of time so it does weigh you down after a while. So, hopefully, we don't have to deal with bubbles for too much longer.”
Before the T20 World Cup 2021, New Zealand toured Bangladesh for five T20Is in September. They were also scheduled to tour Pakistan for three ODIs and five T20Is, but pulled out of the series with the board citing security reasons. Now, they are scheduled to play three T20Is within a span of five days against India starting from Wednesday, November 17, in Jaipur. Southee admitted that scheduling has been tough for players over the last couple of years.
"It's obviously a pretty busy schedule, we knew this was going to be the case even leading into the T20 World Cup, we had a series in Bangladesh and Pakistan," he said, "[Some of] the guys were at the IPL so something over last couple of years have made scheduling a lot tougher. Sides have to do quarantine and what not, it's been a bit of a challenge but as players you just have to crack on and play what's in front of you."
The 32-year-old said that the team didn't have much time to look back at the T20 World Cup final, and looked forward to the India challenge.
"It's busy and we haven't really had a chance to stop and think after the disappointment in the way things finished there (in Dubai) but we have to shift our focus to this series and then obviously for the Test series. To represent your country is a great honour so that's gets me up and going,” Southee said.
"It's something we have to look at throughout this series of three games in five days, with travel days in between and then a couple of days and then go into a Test series. The guys have to be managed throughout the series and we've got a squad of 15 here that were involved in the T20 World Cup which I'm sure we'll use throughout the T20 series."