Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) has received a request from IPL-bound England and Australia players to reduced their quarantine period after they land in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They will be coming from the United Kingdom (UK) after playing the ODI series and are expected to join their respective teams on 17 September.
The 13th season of Indian Premier League is set to begin from 19th September.
As per norms, players have to go under mandatory six days quarantine in the UAE. According to this, England and Australian players will miss the first few matches of IPL 2020. But a senior IPL source has requested BCCI to shorten the quarantine period to three days.
“Yes, the BCCI president has received a request. It may have been written by one of the players but it is something that all the English and Australian players, who are coming from the UK, feel,” a senior IPL source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
IPL 2020: Players will be entering from one bio-secure bubble to the other:
Around 21 players will be coming from the UK where they were already in the bio-secure bubble. So, the source said that there would be no harm to allow them to resume play without quarantine because they are coming from a safe environment.
“They have stayed at the Hilton hotel both in Southampton and Manchester, which is a part of the stadium. They have been tested every fifth day and even on the day of their departure from the UK, they will be tested and also on the first and third day of arrival.”
“If you go through the safety bubble that the ECB created, not even housekeeping was allowed in the rooms of the players. Also, they are taking a chartered flight and not a commercial one. So they do have a point when they talk about entering from one bio-bubble to another,” said the IPL official but did not comment on whether the request would be accepted.
Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Ton Bonton, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, David Warner Josh Hazlewood and Sam Curran are some of the players which will join their IPL teams after playing the ODI series which will end on 16th September.