Players of the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be travelling to UAE for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) without their families, a source close to the development told the Times of India.
With the tournament taking place amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in a health crisis in the world, all franchises have been sent SOPs to be followed throughout its duration in the Middle East.
One of those regulations bars family members from getting close to the cricketers while at training and during matches.
The SOP, in fact, doesn't allow cricketers from interacting with anyone outside the bio-secure bubbles in which sixty matches will be conducted across venues in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
"At least for the initial phase, the families won't be travelling with the players," the source said, also confirming that the CSK players and support staff will be assembling in Chennai on August 19 before flying across to Dubai in a chartered flight. "No commercial flights are being allowed to fly out so CSK have to arrange for a chartered flight."
According to the TOI report, "In Dubai, the team will put up at a five-star property near Burj Khalifa. They are likely to book two-three floors of the hotel which will have separate air-conditioning ducts from the rest of the hotel."
Meanwhile, CSK might just have to start the tournament with a few of their overseas players unavailable.
As this year's edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the ODI series in the UK between England and Australia finishes extremely near to the start of IPL 2020 on September 19, the likes of Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Imran Tahir, Sam Curran and Josh Hazlewood might not be able to play in the first few matches, given the necessity to go into a week-long isolation period on arrival in UAE.
CSK's other foreign players Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi, however, are expected to join the squad on time directly in Dubai, where they will have a three-week-long preparatory camp.
