Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is trying to arrange commercial flight tickets for their five players who are part of the Indian and England Test teams which are currently based in Manchester. The original plan was to bring all the players over to Dubai in a chartered flight as well. However, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shardul Thakur along with England all-rounders Moeen Ali and Sam Curran will travel to Dubai from Manchester for the second half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season which begins from September 19.
“Chartered flight is not a possibility anymore. We are trying to get their tickets done for a commercial flight tomorrow. When they land, they will do six-day quarantine like the rest of the players,” CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan told PTI.
Meanwhile, the fifth and final Test between India and England has been called off on Friday due to the Covid-19 scare just a couple of hours ago before the toss. The decision was taken after the staff member in the Indian camp got affected by the deadly virus.
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Notably, four members of the Indian team’s support staff, including the head coach Ravi Shastri, have been tested positive for the Covid-19 over the last 6 days along with physio Yogesh Parmar being the latest one added to that list and both the cricket board’s to take a call on the fate of the Manchester Test as well.
In a statement confirming the same, ECB wrote: “Following ongoing conversations with the BCCI, the ECB can confirm that the fifth LV= Insurance Test between England and India Men due to start today at Emirates Old Trafford, will be canceled. Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India is regrettably unable to field a team. We send our sincere apologies to fans and partners for this news.”
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Meanwhile, due to the fifth and final Test against England at Manchester has been called off, as per the sources of Evening Standard, Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes and Dawid Malan have withdrawn from IPL 2021 as well.
