{"id":170397,"date":"2025-09-26T13:01:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/170397\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T13:01:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:01:05","slug":"sydney-thunder-prepare-for-added-security-measures-after-ravichandran-ashwin-signing-trent-copeland-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/170397\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Thunder prepare for added security measures after Ravichandran Ashwin signing; Trent Copeland comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trent Copeland has conceded the Sydney Thunder<\/a> will need to ramp up security measures this season after the club confirmed the signing of Ravichandran Ashwin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In what has been described as the ‘biggest signing in history’ for the Australian competition, the 39-year-old’s acquisition was locked in on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ashwin will become the first international Indian player to ever play in the Big Bash after retiring from both international and IPL duties over the past year.<\/p>\n

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Only one Indian player has previously turned out in the BBL \u2013 former under-19 captain Unmukt Chand, who played for the Melbourne Renegades.<\/p>\n

The off-spinner will play between three and fives games for the western Sydney franchise in January, plus the finals of the tournament if Thunder make it through.<\/p>\n

“It’s the biggest signing in the history of the BBL,” Copeland told media on Friday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ravichandran Ashwin\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“It’s a really clear message to our fans and members and sponsors \u2026 we are winning these moments. All eight clubs wanted this guy.<\/p>\n

“Ashwin has chosen us, which is a really cool story.”<\/p>\n

The arrival of Ashwin won’t come without some complications however.<\/p>\n

According to The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>, the prospect of the Indian great training and playing in the Sydney Olympic Park complex could be a safety and security risk.<\/p>\n

Thunder officials have spoken to Cricket Australia about the measures that will need to be in place for Ashwin, who will also have his own personal security.<\/p>\n

It comes after Indian spectators were banned from watching training last summer during the Border-Gavaskar series after 5000 fans flocked to a session in Adelaide.<\/p>\n

Copeland also acknowledged the need for extra security when Sydney rivals the Thunder and Sixers square off during the season.<\/p>\n

“We are going to have to [ramp up] security,” Copeland said.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to have [Pakistan star] Babar Azam here at the same time [playing for the Sixers], which is just going to be incredible for the tournament.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Babar Azam celebrates a ton for Pakistan.\u00a0PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“I certainly hope that this is a catalyst, not just for retired players to be able to do it.<\/p>\n

“We have an opportunity this summer, and we are at the front of that queue. Ashwin will be a great advocate for how great our tournament is and the Thunder environment.”<\/p>\n

Ashwin claimed 537 scalps for India in his 106 appearances at Test level, making him the country’s second-highest wicket-taker behind Anil Kumble.<\/p>\n

Azam – who has captained Pakistan in recent years – will join the Sixers for the upcoming season in another major coup<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trent Copeland has conceded the Sydney Thunder will need to ramp up security measures this season after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-170397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}