Players who make it to the England-Australia limited overs series IPL will be available to be selected for their teams’ first matches, contrary to fears that they may be held up by quarantine rules in the UAE. According to Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore, players will not have to undergo the mandatory six-day IPL quarantine as they are traveling from one biosecurity bubble to another.
That means those traveling to Dubai will be available to their teams from day one – Dubai does not have a mandatory quarantine period unless the person tests positive. KKR players (the team is based in Abu Dhabi), although they will need to be quarantined for six days according to local government rules, but even by that time they should be available for the first KKR game on September 23. All players will fly to the United Arab Emirates. on September 17, the day after the England-Australia series ends, on a chartered flight.
Mysore also said that negotiations with the Abu Dhabi authorities were still ongoing to further shorten the six-day quarantine period. Abu Dhabi has had strict rules on people entering the emirate from abroad (currently 14-day quarantines are mandatory), but it is understood that a concession has been made by allowing players to train after six days, provided they stay within the confines of their equipment. bubble.
There are three players: England captain Eoin Morgan and batsman Tom Banton and Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins, who will join the KKR team in Abu Dhabi. KKR and Mumbai are the only two teams based in Abu Dhabi, and Mumbai has no players coming from the England-Australia series. The other six teams are based in Dubai.
“While they are still negotiating with the authorities, we are reconciled to the fact that we may have to quarantine our three players,” Mysore told ESPNcricinfo, in a comprehensive interview that will soon be published in full. “They arrive on September 17, but our first game is on September 23, at which time they would have finished their [concessional six-day] quarantine. So it has worked well and is good for the tournament. “
Mysore said the “receptivity” of the IPL governing council to the idea of ensuring a smooth transfer of players from one biosecure bubble in the UK to one in the UAE has made this possible. Previously, Royal Challengers Bangalore President Sanjeev Churiwala had also confirmed that players from the UK would not have to be quarantined under IPL rules.
“What we did was put together a plan and share it with the IPL medical team,” Mysore said. “We told them, ‘They are in a biosecurity bubble in the UK. What if we take them on a sanitized charter flight and we take care of all the immigration elements, testing, contactless and everything to allow them to come right in a bubble Here? To give IPL credit, they took it very constructively and have a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) written for that, which says that if you go from one bubble to another, you don’t need the mandatory quarantine period. “
The same can be said for what Knight Riders intends to do for its Trinidad and Tobago CPL players linked to IPL. CPL ends on Thursday and players will fly to the United Arab Emirates on Saturday. The Knight Riders have gone to the extreme of ensuring that the team bus, driven by a driver from within the bubble, drops players on the airport runway, thus avoiding long delays in procedures. The Knight Riders feature Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Chris Green from Trinidad.
“We are bringing all of our players on a charter directly to Abu Dhabi. Even the smallest detail, such as how they will go from the hotel to the airport, they go on a bus with a driver who is part of the bubble, directly to the track. That is the level of detail that we have entered, so they have waived the quarantine period. “
Morgan, who had already gone through life in a biobubble, was asked to compare those in England with those in the IPL. “I think it will be an easier challenge than staying in Southampton and Manchester where the hotels are on the ground,” he said on Thursday, ahead of the first ODI against Australia. “The place where we will stay in Abu Dhabi will not be close to the ground. It has a beach, it has a pool. So I think managing that could be a little better. And if you add the fact that families can enter the biosecure bubble, it makes a big difference. So many more positives than potentially the bubble we have. “
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