Dream11 IPL 2020: Varying Quarantine Periods for Players Arriving in UAE From England-Australia Series
IPL 2020 will be played in its entirety in the United Arab Emirates with stadiums in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai hosting all the games behind closed doors. Teams started arriving in the gulf country last month with several players joining them over-time, all undergoing a mandatory two-week isolation period. However, it has been reduced for the players arriving from England.
Indian Premier League teams received further boost ahead of the new season as players who recently took part in England-Australia limited-overs series have arrived in UAE and will be available for training and matches sooner than everyone expected. All the 21 travelling players are expected to undergo mandatory quarantine periods ranging from one to six days, before joining the rest of the squad. IPL 2020 Schedule Time Table for PDF Download Online.
IPL 2020 will be played in its entirety in the United Arab Emirates with stadiums in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai hosting all the games behind closed doors. Teams started arriving in the gulf country late last month with several players joining them over-time, all undergoing a mandatory two-week isolation period. However, it has been reduced for the players arriving from England. Suresh Raina, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh Opt Out of IPL 2020: List of Players Who Won't Take Part This Season and Their Replacements.
According to a report from ESPNCricinfo, the group travelling to Dubai, comprising of 18 players from six teams, will undergo one day quarantine before joining the rest of the team for training after turning negative for coronavirus, while the remaining three, who are travelling to Abu Dhabi and are part of the KKR squad, will undergo mandatory six-day isolation before being available for selection.
All the players arrived in UAE while wearing PPE kits on Thursday and the ones travelling to Dubai will undergo COVID-19 tests in their room on Friday and once returned negative can join their team and be available for the first round of matches. While the KKR players need to be in isolation for six days and can join the rest on the seventh day.
The reason for the reduction in the quarantine period for the players arriving from England is understood to be the secure environment the players were staying during their limited-overs series. And as the 21 members will be travelling from one bio-secure bubble to other, franchises had asked the IPL to relax the quarantine norms for players to be available for selection immediately.
However, the quarantine protocols in the two cities are different from one other which forced IPL to set altered isolation period for the players. There is no mandatory quarantine period for people flying to Dubai (unless tested positive) while Abu Dhabi government has imposed 14-day isolation period, which was reduced for IPL as the players were already in a bubble.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 18, 2020 10:06 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).