Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) chairman Sanjeev Churiwala on Friday (August 21) opined that England and Australian cricketers, who will play six white-ball games against each other from 4-16 September, shouldn’t undergo the mandatory one-week quarantine upon arriving in UAE.
However, some other franchises have expressed objections over it.
"Why is it not being made mandatory for all players who will arrive later (read: English and Australia players who will finish playing a white-ball series by September 16) to undergo the compulsory one-week quarantine? The rules have to apply to everyone", two franchises told TOI.
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The latest that the English and Aussie players can reach UAE is on 17 or 18 September while the 13th edition of IPL is slated to start on September 19.
As per the IPL SOP, they will be quarantined for six days with RT-PCR tests on days 1, 3, and 6. On the seventh day, they will be entering the bio-secure bubble given that their tests return negative on all three occasions.
But RCB believes players arriving from England can do away with the mandatory quarantine because they'll be switching from one bio-secure bubble to another.
"So? Even we (other franchises) quarantined in India before heading to the UAE. But we're going by the rules and quarantining again in UAE for a week. That should be the case with all," some other franchises insist.
Notably, players taking part in the final of the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will reach UAE immediately after September 10 and BCCI wants them to undergo the mandatory quarantine period of one week and do all the relevant tests.
"Shouldn't the same apply to everyone else? If you're going to stay only within the franchise bubble and not interact with others in general at stadiums, etc, then it's a different matter. Else, everybody should follow a single-point mandate," some IPL stakeholders say.
This comes at a time when the BCCI has sent out a circular to all eight franchises, who have either already reached UAE in the last 24 hours or preparing to depart.
"We would like to share information on the measures being put in place to minimize the risk of the introduction of Covid-19 into the League and to protect all participants. These measures must be coupled with the cooperation, commitment and adherence of all the participants," the circular states.
As the teams boarded flight to UAE between Thursday and Friday, it became clear how franchises had done their own "homework" for safe travelling. In fact, some teams took the flights wearing PPE kits after having undergone severe quarantine over the last two weeks.
"These precautions are necessary. Hope everybody is made to respect it," they said.
(With TOI inputs)
