With only a couple of weeks to go before the commencement of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), teams have begun their preparation. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) director of cricket Mike Hesson recently revealed when skipper Virat Kohli and senior batsman AB de Villiers will join the camp ahead of IPL 2021.
The Royal Challengers will be one of the front-runners to win the prestigious trophy when the brand new season of the cash-rich league begins on April 9. They begin their campaign on the first day against the defending champions Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. After crashing out of the qualifiers, Bangalore will hope to go all the way and end their trophy drought.
Overseas cricketers are expected to join by first week of April – Mike Hesson
Speaking about international players landing in the country, Mike Hesson revealed that AB de Villiers will join the whole squad in India on March 28 in a video released on the team’s official website. Further, Hesson spoke about the arrival of other foreign players in the squad, especially from Australia and New Zealand. The former Kiwi coach expects the star players to arrive in India through the first week of April.
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“We have got players arriving all the way through to 1st April, which is where we get the NOCs for some of our overseas players. Finn Allen is playing T20s in New Zealand till 1st April, and he will be coming the day after. Australians play until the 31st, the likes of Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson then jump on a plane and come,” He was quoted saying.
Talking about Indian cricketers, Mike Hesson said that the players who are currently a part of the squad that is playing against England including Virat Kohli will immediately join the franchise’s training camp in Chennai as a bubble-to-bubble transfer however some players will be allowed to take a break.
“We have got players that haven’t been in the bubble all the time, so they will come straight, bubble to bubble transfer from Pune and they will be able to join us. We have got one or two that are going to have a day or two at home. They have been in the bubble for so long so they need to freshen up. They will arrive and will have to undertake their seven-day quarantine,” Mike Hesson added.