Nobody Has Any Clarity On That Yet: KXIP CEO On The Availability Of England-Australian Players For IPL Opener

The uncertainty around IPL-bound Australia and England cricketers being immediately available for their respective sides’ 2020 campaign has deepened after Kings XI Punjab CEO, Satish Menon, reckoned that there is still no clarity on the smooth transfer of the players from the bio-bubble in England to that in the United Arab Emirates.

With England and Australia players currently involved in a three-match ODI series in the United Kingdom, there have been speculations as to whether the cricketers will have to undergo a six-day quarantine before joining the bio-bubble or not.

 “Nobody has any clarity on that yet. The BCCI is supposed to come back on whether the quarantine can be reduced as they are coming from a bubble to [another] bubble. We don’t have any clarity as yet,” Menon told IANS.

“From what I hear from the bubble, things are exactly as it was planned. We have been following the SoP that has been laid out by the BCCI and authorities,” he added.

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Will the IPL-bound Australia-England players undergo mandatory six-day quarantine?

Menon’s comment is a stark contrast from what Kolkata Knight Riders CEO, Venky Mysore, had said a few days back. Mysore had put all the speculations to rest by saying that all the England and Australia IPL-bound players will not have to undergo mandatory quarantine and that they would be immediately available from the very first game.

“While they are still negotiating with the authorities, we are reconciled to the fact that we may have to quarantine our three players,” Mysore was quoted as saying by 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.”

KKR and MI are the only teams based in Abu Dhabi while the rest of the IPL teams are stationed in Dubai, which has no quarantine requirement.

KXIP has a couple of marquee overseas players in the form of Glenn Maxwell and Chris Jordan in their squad and if the players do undergo quarantine, it’ll mean that the duo will be unavailable for the selector in the sides’ IPL 2020 opener against the Delhi Capitals on September 20.