Cricket Australia has reportedly held crisis talks with the Indian board as it looks to ease the tourists' concerns over a hard hotel quarantine upon arriving in Queensland.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, CA officials had engaged BCCI powerbrokers in a phone hook-up on Thursday afternoon.
The drama over the fourth Test in Brisbane looked to have passed after the Queensland government said it would allow players to freely move within the hotel they are staying at.
However, the announcement has done little to solve the discontent among the touring party, with the latest report indicating that the BCCI had formally rejected travelling to Brisbane via a letter written to Cricket Australia on Thursday.
India's hopes of the Queensland government relaxing its hotel quarantine laws have taken a further blow in the last 24 hours after a quarantine hotel worker tested positive to the coronavirus, contracting the virulent UK strain of the virus.
Players from both teams are currently allowed to roam freely around their eastern suburbs hotel during the Sydney Test, and it is understood that India is seeking similar luxuries for the final Test in Brisbane.
"My rules are the standard rules I've used for sporting teams right from the start and they've worked very successfully for us," Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said regarding the matter. "So that's what we'll continue to do."
Young added that the fate of the fourth Test was "something between Cricket Australia and the Indian cricket board for them to work through".
Indian skipper Ajinkya Rahane was asked about the potential for the fourth Test to be moved at the toss prior to the start of the third Test and stayed clear of the topic.
"We're just focusing on this Test match," he told Fox Cricket.
"We know being in the moment has really helped us. Whatever happened in Melbourne is history and it is behind us and we have to start fresh here and be patient."
Despite conspiracy theories regarding India's true motive for not wanting to play in Brisbane, Australian skipper Ian Chappell came to the defence of the tourists yesterday.
"Having gone through what they've gone through, to then have to go through a hard lockdown right at the end, it would be hard," he told Wide World of Sports.
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