IPL 2021: BCCI Announces The Health Advisory Protocols For The Players And Teams

With the second leg of IPL 2021 set to resume on the 19th of September, the BCCI has opened up on the protocols regarding it. The BCCI had to postpone the 14th edition of the cash-rich league after only 29 games in India as a cluster of COVID-19 cases emerged within the bubble. However, in May, the board announced the remaining fixtures would occur in the UAE and the protocols associated with it.

The BCCI has decided to abandon the contact-tracing bands as it is difficult to feed information for sportspersons and a few instances emerged when it couldn’t catch the players’ movement. As a result, the Bubble Integrity Officers would track it accordingly. There would be four integrity officers with each team, working in shifts.

“The BCCI has decided to do away with the idea of wearing contact tracing bands as not only is it sometimes difficult to feed information for sportspersons during the course of a tournament, but also, we had a few instances earlier this year when the devices couldn’t catch the movement of the players and the fact that they had left a certain location wasn’t updated and players and support staff realised this much later.

As a result, it has been decided that the Bubble Integrity Officers present with the teams will keep a track of the movements and act accordingly if there is a case that comes up during the course of the tournament. There will be 4 integrity officers with each team and will work in shifts to help with this,” a source told ANI.

BCCI has also announced that every team in the bubble must travel through the dedicated vehicles only and that everyone needs to follow it thoroughly. The board has given the green signal for a bubble to bubble transfer; thus, the players from the Caribbean Premier League can enter the IPL bubble straight away.

BCCI to create 14 bubbles in the UAE for IPL 2021:

Additionally, the Indian cricket board will formulate 14 bubbles in the UAE – eight for eight teams, three for the match officials and management team, and three for the broadcast crew and commentators.

The BCCI has underlined that all players must quarantine in their hotel room for six full days before entering the bubble. Furthermore, all of them have to undergo COVID-19 tests as per plan before participating in any training activities.

“All franchise team members must quarantine in their hotel room for 6 full days before entering the bubble. Upon arrival and before commencing any group training activities, all team members who will be included in the bubble will follow the below-mentioned COVID-19 RT-PCR testing plan. A nasopharyngeal swab will be taken for testing. Test reports are available within 8-12 hours after sample collection,” the source added.

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