Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins is adamant that Australia will do 'whatever it takes' to ensure that the third Test will go ahead on January 7.
There has been plenty of conjecture surrounding the hosting of the New Year's Test match after a recent COVID spike across the Greater Sydney region.
However, after lengthy discussions, it was confirmed that the game will remain at the SCG as players and officials enter a strict bubble.
The strict conditions will likely ensure that players are restricted to just travelling to and from the ground for the final two Tests of the series.
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Whilst the side has been allowed to play in 'relative freedom' according to Pat Cummins in Adelaide and Melbourne, he told RSN that they are more than comfortable with making the sacrifice as they prepare to head to Sydney.
“Not 100% what the conditions will be up there but we’ve actually been lucky so far this season in that we have been able to play and live in relative freedom that we have been able to walk about and go out for coffee or breakfast or dinner,” he told RSN927’s Summer Breakfast.
“It may sound trivial but it has made a big difference.
“We might be confined to a hotel when we aren’t practising or playing but that’s fine.
“Whatever it takes to gets the games on, It’s a small sacrifice to make.
“We all feel pretty lucky to be out there playing in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.”
With India tieing the series up at 1-all, the relaxed nature of the bubble has allowed Australia's cricketers to take their mind off the game, including heading to the golf course.
However, this luxury will be revoked once they hit Sydney, with the coaching staff looking at ways of freshening up players for the rest of the series.
“It’s going to be an ongoing challenge,” Australia's assistant coach Andrew McDonald told reporters on Thursday.
“The restrictions in Melbourne haven’t been as firm as what Sydney and Brisbane will be. The guys were able to get out yesterday and get onto the golf course just to get their mind off the game.
“As we go to Sydney and Brisbane, no doubt there’s a conversation that we are having. We don't necessarily have the solutions for that but we definitely need to find different ways to freshen up players and make sure that isn’t a factor in performance.”
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Having come from England and the UAE, the side is familiar with the conditions that will face them when they reach Sydney and Brisbane.
For McDonald, who coached the Rajasthan Royals at the IPL, it is the dictated life of the bubble that he finds will be the hardest to deal with, praising the ongoing efforts of the group and Cricket Australia in combating it.
“One of the biggest things in bubble life is that a lot of your own autonomy gets taken away from you as a human being,” he explained.
“That’s one thing that we love, waking up in the morning and making decisions for ourselves whereas bubble life dictates to you what those decisions are or how the day is going to unfold.
“It’s definitely something to factor in and the guys have been to England, the UAE and now in Australia, but at the moment I think they are coping really well and I think Cricket Australia has done a really good job in the way they have set up the bubble to make them as good as they can be.”