Players can withdraw from upcoming tours if bubble takes its toll on mental health: Eoin Morgan

England's limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan has said that players in his national team can withdraw from upcoming tours if they feel playing in bio-secure bubbles during the COVID-19 pandemic will take a toll on their mental health.

Before the Indian Premier League, England hosted West Indies, Pakistan and Australia in July. These tours were played in Manchester and Southampton where the ECB had set up bubbles.

This year's IPL is being played in a bubble where similar curbs on movement will be in place with England expected to tour South Africa next month.

“We’ve spoken about this as a team and we’ve accepted that guys will come in and out of the bubble as they feel it is affecting their mental health,” Morgan said during an online charity event.

“I do think we will see people pull out of tours. That’s just going to be the reality of things.”

According to skipper, it was important to create an environment for players to be comfortable with making that decision.

“I don’t think people should look down on it and they shouldn’t feel like people aren’t doing their job or not committing to their country,” the 34-year-old added.

“That’s a reactive way of dealing with things and we want to be at the forefront of making it acceptable for people to say ‘I need to spend time with my family now and I’m taking this tour off’ just because of the extraordinary circumstances.”