The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be donning special blue coloured jerseys in their match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on September 20 to honour the efforts of the frontline warriors during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Notably, RCB’s contest against KKR will be the Virat Kohli-led side’s first match in the second half of the 2021 season in the UAE.
“Honoured to wear Blue for RCB on 20th September, to pay tribute to frontline warriors who have worked selflessly leading this fight against the Covid pandemic wearing blue PPE kits,” RCB skipper Virat Kohli said in a tweet on Tuesday.
The tweet was accompanied by a video where Kohli and his RCB teammates expressed their views regarding the role of the frontline Covid warriors and the need to support them.
Usually, RCB dons a special green jersey for one match during a season to promote its Go Green initiative however, this time the franchise has decided to support the Covid frontline warriors.
“Instead of our flagship Go Green match initiative this season, RCB is going to be sporting a special blue in one of the upcoming matches, with key messaging on our match kits to show solidarity and support to our frontline warriors,” Kohli added.
The RCB skipper also revealed that his franchise has decided to make a financial contribution to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Significantly, the special blue colour in the jerseys resembles the colour of the PPE Units that the frontline Covid warriors wear.
Moreover, the back of jerseys will sport special social messages supporting the war against Covid-19.
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.