In a bid to fly in their respective players from the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the Sri Lanka-South Africa series into the UAE for the upcoming second half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season, the eight franchises have reportedly decided to pool in and get the players as quickly as possible.
As per reports, one charter plane will carry the players from CPL while the othe one will fly players, who are currently participating in the Sri Lanka-South Africa series.
In the first game of the second half, both Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have their key currently participating in these two tournaments.
While CSK will have Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Imran Tahir (all CPL) and Lungi Ngidi (SL-SA series), MI will have Kieron Pollard (CPL) and Quinton de Kock (SL-SA series).
The players coming from these two tournaments will have to undergo two-day isolation before they join their respective team bubbles.
The players will not be asked to quarentine for six days as it will be a bubble to bubble transfer.
The players will however, be tested for Covid-19 after the two days and before they join their respective team bubble.
Recently, India skipper Virat Kohli and pace bowler Mohammed Siraj, who both represent Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), landed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the second leg of the tournament on a charter flight from London.
The franchise informed that the charter flight was arranged by them after the fifth and final Test between India and England was cancelled at last minute after the visitors were unable to field a team after the Indian camp was hit by Covid-19.
Earlier, the BCCI had announced that every player coming to UAE from the UK would have to undergo six days of hard quarantine before they could join the existing team bubbles for the resumption of the 2021 IPL edition.
Significantly, the IPL 2021 season was postponed indefinately due to the emergence of multiple Covid-19 positive cases in the tournament’s bio-bubble during the second leg in May first week.
Later on May 29, the BCCI had announced that the remaining matches of the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) remaining matches will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the months of September-October.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday announced to complete the remaining matches of VIVO Indian Premier League 2021 season in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) considering the monsoon season in India in the months of September-October this year,” a statement from the Indian Cricket Board had said.
“The decision was taken at a Special General Meeting (SGM) held virtually, where members unanimously agreed to resume IPL,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the board also spoke to the International Cricket Council (ICC) regarding the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in India in October-November.
“The BCCI SGM further authorised the Office Bearers to seek an extension of time from the ICC to take an appropriate call on the hosting of ICC T20 World Cup 2021,” the statement had said further.
At present, Delhi Capitals (DC), the last season’s runners-up, is placed at the top of the IPL 2021 points table with six wins from eight games and 12 points in their kitty.
DC is followed by CSK, RCB and MI at the second, third and fourth place respectively.
The next four places are occupied by Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad, which has managed just a solitary win from seven games it played in the first half.
With 380 runs, DC’s Shikhar Dhawan is the leading run-getter in the tournament while RCB’s Harshal Patel tops the charts for leading wicket-takes after scalping 17 wickets from seven games so far.