The players of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, Delhi Capitals (DC), and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) were seen wearing masks and face shields along with the support staff as they arrived Sunday in hot and dry Dubai for the upcoming season of the T20 tournament. Moved out of India due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 13th edition of the world’s biggest T20 league will be played across the three venues of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the UAE from September 19 to November 10.
SRH landed in UAE first and was soon followed by the team from Delhi, which flew into the UAE via Mumbai. The players are required to stay in quarantine for six days according to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the BCCI.
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The players and the support staff will also be going through RT-PCR tests on Day 1, 3, and 6 of the quarantine, after which all the players who return negative for all the three tests will be entering the tournament bio-bubble. Delhi Capitals chief executive officer (CEO) Dhiraj Malhotra and assistant coach Mohammad Kaif shared their thoughts, having met their players after a long time.
Describing the same, Malhotra said, “We are all really excited that cricket is back, and that the team is together again. It is like meeting your own family, meeting your long lost friends. So it is just a really overwhelming phase for all of us.”
Swaagat nahi karoge hamara? 😎#Dream11IPL #YehHaiNayiDilli pic.twitter.com/6AwhWqekss
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) August 23, 2020
📸 | Day 1 in 🇦🇪
Arrived and settled ✅#OrangeArmy #IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/GF01yWlH8W
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) August 23, 2020
On the other hand, Kaif said, “We will be undergoing three more tests, and hopefully everyone’s reports will come out negative, and then we can get back on to the field to start practicing.”
Both the franchises shared a number of their players’ departure and arrival photos. Posting a touchdown tweet, Sunrisers’ Shreevats Goswami wrote, “Just landed in Dubai and been welcomed by heat wave!”
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The players will not be allowed to interact with each other physically during the six-day isolation period. All the Indian players from the star-studded Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) reached UAE on Friday for the world’s biggest T20 league. The players were already tested multiple times before departure. The players and support staff will be tested every fifth day of the tournament.
