Safer for me to stay in the bubble than getting home: Coulter-Nile

Australian pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile understands why some of his compatriots decided to leave home midway from the Indian Premier League (IPL) but he feels safer being part of the Mumbai Indians' (MI) bio-bubble as India battles a deadly second wave of COVID-19 infections. Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer Andrew Tye has left for Perth fearing that he may be "locked out" of his own country in the wake of a COVID-19 surge. Soon after, Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa also pulled out citing personal reasons.

However, Coulter-Nile was surprised when he got to know about the three of them leaving. He has a Rs 5 crore contract with MI. "Everyone's got their own opinions on it and different situations for them," Coulter-Nile told cricket.com.au where more than 20,000 cases have been reported daily for the past week.

"I was surprised to see AJ go home, and then Zamps and Richo, but when you speak to them, you definitely understand where they're coming from. I spoke to Zamps a little while ago and he made a very compelling argument for going home. But for me, I feel like it's safer for me to stay in the bubble than try and get home at the moment," he added.

Top Australian stars like David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins and Steven Smith are part of the IPL. Getting out of India is becoming tougher by the day with some countries, including UK and New Zealand, imposing travel bans from the country and Australia contemplating on the same. "...I feel like something's got to give for getting home. I'm just going to wait and see how that plays out.

"Worst comes to worst, we'll have to quarantine in Dubai for a couple of weeks before we can fly home. But I'm sure it will get sorted," said Coulter-Nile.

The Australian, who is being tested three times a day, said he has faith in the bio-bubble created for the IPL. "We have a rapid response test in the morning ahead of another test later in the day, and then one at night as well. And that's for everyone players, staff, the people who do laundry, cleaners, everyone.

"In terms of testing, they are pretty onto it. I'm as confident (in the bubble) as you can be. All the protocols and measures are in place, I can't think of anything more we could be doing. As long as everyone follows them that's the hardest bit, there's a lot of moving parts but if everyone does the right thing, we should be fine," he added.

India has been reporting more than three lakh cases for the past few days.