“Families should be traveling” - Cheteshwar Pujara opens up on BCCI’s decision to restrict families on away tours

Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara has opened up on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) not allowing the cricketers’ families on the Indian team’s away tours, which was widely criticized by the cricketing fraternity. 

Notably, after India’s 1-3 loss in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, the BCCI issued a 10-point guideline, which highlighted the restriction of families during India’s away tours, starting from India’s England tour next month.

Moreover, former Indian captain Virat Kohli also expressed his disappointment and talked about the importance of families staying with the players during high-pressure games, especially during overseas tours. Now, Pujara also supported Kohli in this aspect. 

"I would say that families should be traveling. They should be with the players, the window. I mean, there are times where the families are there throughout the series. You as a player, you know, professionally, you want to be attending your practice sessions. So there has to be a window," Pujara told Firstpost.

"Normally what most of the teams do is they have a window of two or three weeks in a long tour. So if you are going away from home for 40 days, there are three weeks where families can travel. So that's the best way to balance it out, because there are times where coaching staff or the management feels that if the families are traveling, then players are not focused enough, which may not be the case," he added.

"But just to balance it out, I think if you have a proper window where families can travel and at the same time, if you are going there early for preparation, then players are just focusing on the preparation part. And then when it starts you have a three week window where families can travel," Pujara stated.

It’s important to note that Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and a few other players had their families present at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, in which India successfully won the title. However, the families didn’t stay with players at the team hotel. Moreover, the expenses of their families were also paid by the players and not the Indian cricket board.

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