Tim Southee : “Bio-Bubble Fatigue is Tough, but representing country keeps us motivated”

New Zealand have barely had the time to process their defeat to Australia in the T20 World Cup final in Dubai on Sunday night, and yet, less than 24 hours later, they flew off to Jaipur in India for a tour of three T20Is and two Tests. The T20I leg of the series will start less than 72 hours after their defeat in the world tournament’s final. Talk about a tight schedule.

Bio-Bubbles are tough on players – Southee

“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,” Southee said in an online meeting from Jaipur on Tuesday. “[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.

“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. 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.

“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.”

NZ will rotate their squad and rest the exhausted players

In the days before their T20 World Cup campaign that started on October 18, New Zealand toured Bangladesh for five T20Is in September and then Pakistan for an original tour of three ODIs and five T20Is, which they eventually pulled out of citing security concerns. Now, they play three T20Is in India within five days and two more Tests before they head back to New Zealand for their home summer.

Southee, New Zealand’s stand-in T20I captain, said New Zealand could be looking at shuffling their T20I squad in India, which was the same group of 15 players that played in the World Cup in UAE. Injured Conway has been replaced by in-form Daryl Mitchell.

“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,” Southee said. “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.”