IPL 2021: Defending champions Mumbai Indians set to land in Dubai on Friday

The second half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 is set to begin in the UAE from September 19 and the defending champions Mumbai Indians are planning to reach Dubai this Friday to prepare well in advance for their remaining games.

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Apart from Mumbai Indians, even Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had decided to reach UAE earlier to get used to the conditions. Both the teams are set to lock horns in the first game of the second leg. The Mumbai Indians squad has been practising at their ground Ghansoli, the Reliance Corporate Park. The team members have been training in the ground for close to 14 days, after undergoing quarantine. The players are also continuously taking COVID tests in a bio-secure environment. 

“The team is awaiting the landing permission from the UAE government just like CSK and, once they get that, they also wish to land in Dubai on Friday. It will be a bubble-to-bubble transfer for MI, but they will still undergo quarantine as per protocols once in UAE. It is bubble-to-bubble because the boys are already in a bubble and training in Mumbai,” the source said to Hindustan Times.

Also, if reports are to be believed, then MI and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchises will stay in the same hotel they stayed during the 2020 season of IPL held in the UAE. The BCCI SOP has asked the eight teams to book a smaller hotel due to the exclusive usage of all the respective members of the squad in a bio-bubble environment.