It is being almost a week now that the franchises have landed in the UAE to participate in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The 13th season of IPL will start from September 19 and will run until November 10. This is the first time in the history that the grand finale will take place on a weekday.
Meanwhile, originally the tournament was scheduled to take place in March. However, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, BCCI had to postpone the tournament. While the future looked gloomy but with ICC postponing the T20 World Cup, doors opened up to host the cash-rich league.
However, the Sourav Ganguly-led panel had to move the tournament outside India due to growing COVID-19 cases in the country. The cricketers are currently in the seven-day quarantine.
Players and support staff are being tested thrice: Day 1, 3 and 6 since their arrival in UAE. After these tests are conducted, and if the player or staff member tests negative on all three occasions, they will enter a bio-security bubble. They will have to stay in the bubble until the end of the tournament.
Meanwhile, the members of all the franchises are staying in different hotels in the UAE. On the other hand, the matches of IPL 2020 will take place in three venues – Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. The franchises owners have booked the hotels for the next three months and the teams will stay in their respective hotels.
Here is the list of hotels where all the 8 teams of IPL 2020 are staying:
- ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah Hotel
- MUMBAI INDIANS: St Regis, Abu Dhabi
- CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Taj, Dubai
- SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort
- KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Ritz Carlton, Abu Dhabi
- KINGS XI PUNJAB: Sofitel The Palm, Dubai
- DELHI CAPITALS: Palace Downtown, Dubai
- RAJASTHAN ROYALS: One & Only The Palm – Dubai