The IPL 2020 is all set to get underway from the 19th of September in the United Arab Emirates. With England and Australia playing the ODI series next week a lot has been speculated as to when their players will reach the UAE for IPL 2020. Due to the COVID-19 scare, BCCI has advised all players associated with the league to complete a mandatory 6 day quarantine period before they join their squad.
As per this, it looked like that the Australia and England players will miss out on the few early matches of their respective teams. However now Kolkata Knight Riders chief executive officer Venky Mysore has asserted the players won’t have to undergo the IPL’s mandatory six-day quarantine given they are travelling from one bio-secure bubble into another.
England and Australia players of KKR to be available from first match
Now the likes of Eoin Morgan and Pat Cummins will be available for selection from their very first match in the IPL. Unless any players test COVID-19 positive, they will not have to undergo a quarantine period after they reach UAE.
However, the KKR who is based in Abu Dhabi though will need to quarantine for six days following local government commands, but even by even after that, they should be available for KKR’s first match on September 23. The players will reach UAE on September 17 just a day after the England-Australia series ends on a chartered flight.
“While they are still negotiating with the authorities, we are reconciled to the fact that we may have to quarantine our three players. They arrive on September 17, but our first game is on September 23, by which time they would’ve finished their quarantine. So it’s worked out well, and it’s good for the tournament’, Mysore told ESPNcricinfo.
Meanwhile, the same holds true for the IPL-bound CPL players as well. Knight Riders have Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Chris Green joining them from Trinidad.