IPL 2020: Huge Boost For Teams As England, Australia Players Available For Selection From Match One

Contrary to the reports that England and Australia players might miss the first week of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) due to quarantine rules, players from both the teams will be available for selection for their teams’ first matches. Venky Mysore, the chief executive of Kolkata Knight Riders, confirmed the big development.

He stated that the players won’t have to undergo the IPL’s mandatory six-day quarantine given they are travelling from one bio-secure bubble into another.Both the teams recently played three T20Is and are now gearing up for as many ODIs.

The ODIs will end on September 16, just three days before the IPL starts with a mouth-watering clash between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. The English and Australian players will arrive in the gulf country on September 17. Earlier reports suggested that the players might miss their team’s first games but Mysore has confirmed there won’t be such situation.

That means those travelling to Dubai will be available to their teams from day one – Dubai has no mandatory quarantine period unless the person tests positive. There are quarantine period rules in Abu Dhabi where KKR and Mumbai Indians are based. But even then, KKR will have the luxury of choosing their England and Australia players since their first match on September 23, six days after the players arrive in UAE.

Mysore also said negotiations were still on with the Abu Dhabi authorities to further shorten the six-day quarantining period. Abu Dhabi has had strict rules around people entering the emirate from outside (at present 14-day quarantines are mandatory) but they have given relaxation to the IPL teams.

“While they are still negotiating with the authorities, we are reconciled to the fact that we may have to quarantine our three players,” Mysore told ESPNcricinfo.

“They arrive on September 17, but our first game is on September 23, by which time they would’ve finished their [concessional six-day] quarantine. So it’s worked out well, and it’s good for the tournament,” he added.

The players from Australia and England camp who will play for KKR are – Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins and Tom Banton. Mysore further explained how the IPL and the franchises made sure that the players won’t have to quarantine in UAE.

“What we did was put a plan together and shared it with the medical team at the IPL,” Mysore said.

“We told them, ‘they’re in a bio-secure bubble in UK. What if we brought them on a sanitised charter flight and we took care of all the elements of immigration, testing, contactless stuff and everything to allow them to come right into a bubble here?’ To give credit to IPL, they took it very constructively and they have a written Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for that, which says if you’re coming from a bubble to another bubble, you don’t need the mandatory quarantine period,” he added.

Here is a list of the players who are currently in England:

Rajasthan Royals: Steven Smith, Andrew Tye, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Tom Curran

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Billy Stanlake, Jonny Bairstow

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Aaron Finch, Adam Zampa, Joshua Phillipe, Moeen Ali

Chennai Super Kings: Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran

Mumbai Indians: Nathan Coulter-Nile

Kolkata Knight Riders: Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan, Tom Banton

Kings XI Punjab: Glenn Maxwell, Chris Jordan

Delhi Capitals: Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey

Also Read: Sarfaraz Ahmed Had Reservations Over Playing Final T20I In England, Confirms Misbah-ul-Haq

Watch: Prithvi Shaw Takes Delhi Capitals Bowlers To The Cleaners In Intra-squad Practice Match