India and England players coming from the United Kingdom will have to serve six days in quarantine in UAE before being allowed to join the squad in the bio-bubble, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have informed the franchises. The Indian team in England was hit by a COVID-19 scare as four members of the contingent tested positive for the virus, which led to the cancellation of 5th Test in Manchester.
Earlier, it was decided that there will be a bubble to bubble transfer of the players but since Ravi Shastri and members of team India attended a book launch event outside the bubble, the players will now have to serve six days in hard quarantine.
“The BCCI has informed us that every player coming in from the UK to UAE will have to undergo six days of quarantine before they can join the bubbles. Obviously, the bubble to bubble transfer from the UK to UAE no longer stands keeping in mind the current scenario," a franchise official said as quoted by Sify.com
With the Manchester Test being called off, the franchises have got in touch with charter companies to fly out their players from the UK. Royal Challengers Bangalore has arranged a flight to bring Mohammed Siraj and Virat Kohli from the UK. The duo is set to depart from the UK at 11:30 PM tonight, September 11 and will reach UAE on Sunday morning.
“Yes, we have arranged a charter flight for Virat and Siraj, both of them will be flying out at 11:30 PM UK time on Saturday and they will reach Dubai early Sunday morning. Safe transit of the players is the utmost priority for RCB. They will undergo six days quarantine there before joining the team bubble,” said a source
Chennai Super Kings too are looking to bring their IPL bound players back from the UK. CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan confirmed the same. "Now the match is called off, we are looking forward to get CSK boys back into Dubai tomorrow,” he said
The BCCI has issued a 46-page health advisory and everyone associated with the IPL will be bounded to follow that. The second leg of IPL will get underway on September 19, with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings clashing in the first match. With the new quarantine restrictions, it will be interesting to see if the UK bound players are available for the first match of their teams.