IPL 2020: England, Australia Players To Reach UAE Via Chartered Flights

The IPL 2020 is slated to get underway from September 19. Defending champions Mumbai Indians will play the inaugural fixture against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). While overseas players have been a special attraction in the IPL, the England and Australia players, will join their respective franchises after the completion of their ongoing series.

England is currently hosting Australia for a three-match T20I series. England have taken a unassailable lead in the series. As per a report in Mumbai Mirror, seven franchises have agreed to bring back 22 players directly to UAE via a charter flight from Manchester.  The players will eave for Dubai to be available for their team’s respective opening matches in time.

“It has all been taken care of. The idea is that they are not outside of the bubble. If we had flown them by commercial flights, they would have had to undergo quarantine. And cost-wise also it would have been dearer as each player will have to be flown by business class. Close to Rs 1 crore for 22 players is not much I suppose,” the official told Mumbai Mirror.

IPL 2020 will be played entirely in UAE due to the pandemic situation forcing the cricket board to host the tournament away from India. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah will be the three venues used for the tournament. Dream 11 have been named as the sponsor for the upcoming season of the tournament after VIVO pulled out.

All the franchise have arrived in UAE with some of the foreign players still to join the squad.

Mumbai Indians have been the most successful team in IPL history. They have clinched the IPL title four times under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. CSK are the second most successful team with three titles to their name.