When the Indian cricket team plays South Africa in a five-match T20I series in June, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to do away with bio-bubble.

Even though the cases of COVID-19 are on the rise in a few States, the BCCI is optimistic that it can successfully conduct the series without a bio-bubble and hard quarantine – something on the lines of the Women’s T20 tournament which is currently underway.

“As of now, there won’t be any bio-bubble,” a reliable source in the BCCI confirmed to Sportstar. “However, we will continue to monitor the situation, and a lot will depend on how the COVID situation in the country is around that time…”

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The five-match series will be played in Visakhapatnam, Delhi, Rajkot, Cuttack and Bengaluru. The Indian players featuring in the IPL are expected to assemble in Delhi in the first week of June and then start training. “There have been deliberations on whether we could do away with the strict bubble. Several countries are trying to do away with stricter bio-bubbles and we will try doing that in the South Africa series against South Africa and see how things go…” the source added.

However, the players are expected to be tested regularly to ensure that there are no COVID scare in the camps.

The team will travel to Ireland and England soon after the series against South Africa, and it is expected that there too there would be no hard quarantine.

The Indian cricketers have been inside the bubble for the last few months and keeping the workload in mind, some of the senior players could be rested for the T20 series against South Africa.