IPL,England, Australia
England vs Australia [Photo-AP]

The IPL-bound England and Australia players have requested BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to consider reducing the duration of quarantine that they will have to undergo before joining their respective team’s bio-bubble from six to three days following their return from the United Kingdom.

A total of 21 England and Australian players will board a specially arranged chartered flight that will touch base in the UAE on September 17. According to current quarantine conditions, the players will only be eligible to play from September 23 while the tournament will kickstart from September 19, meaning they will miss at least one game of the 13th edition.

Desperate to not miss a single game, one of the premier stars have requested Sourav Ganguly to consider reducing the duration of quarantine, a report in Hindustan Times stated.

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IPL-bound England-Australia request the BCCI for seamless transfer from one bio-bubble to another

IPL, Australia, England
England vs Australia [Photo-TOI]
According to the same report, while Sourav Ganguly was unavailable for a comment, a senior IPL source has confirmed that one of the players has made the request, and it is something that all the players also feel.

“Yes, the BCCI president has received a request. It may have been written by one of the players but it is something that all the English and Australian players, who are coming from the UK, feel. The players feel that since they are already in a bio-bubble — first in Australia and then in UK –, it’s only logical that “they be allowed to enter from one bio-bubble to another” as they haven’t been in contact with the outside world,” a senior official was quoted as saying by PTI.

“They have stayed at the Hilton hotel both in Southampton and Manchester, which is a part of the stadium. They have been tested every fifth day and even on the day of their departure from UK, they will be tested and also on first and third day of arrival.”If you go through safety bubble that the ECB created, not even housekeeping was allowed in the rooms of the players. Also they are taking a chartered flight and not a commercial one,” he added.

“So they do have a point when they talk about entering from one bio-bubble to another,” said the IPL official.

The only side that will be least affected even if the quarantine duration isn’t reduced will be the Kolkata Knight Riders since their opening game is on 23 September. Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, will be the worst affected team as it would mean that they would be without the services of skipper Steve Smith, Jofra Archer, and Jos Buttler. Sunrisers Hyderabad too will miss the likes of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow in their opening game while CSK will be without their overseas options like Josh Hazlewood and Sam Curran.

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