Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Delhi Capitals (DC), Punjab Kings (PBKS), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) players arrived in United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the rest of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021).
CSK welcomed Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ravindra Jadeja as they landed in Dubai on Saturday (September 11). All four of them were part of the England-India Test series and they reached UAE earlier than expected after the final Test match was canceled.
The franchises arranged a commercial plane to UAE after the fifth Test in Manchester was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak in India's camp. The CSK squad, including captain MS Dhoni, has already started training ahead of the IPL 2021 resuming September 19.
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Ali, Jadeja, Pujara, and Jadeja will join the squad only after completing a 6-day quarantine. "En-coming ???? 4 times the joy today at Whistles Kingdom!," wrote CSK while sharing the pictures.
The DC, SRH, and PBKS players who were also part of the Indian squad for the Test series against England landed in UAE for the upcoming IPL.
Along with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, Akshar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, and Umesh Yadav, the captain of DC in the first phase of the tournament, Rishabh Pant joined the franchise.
For Punjab, skipper KL Rahul, star batsman Mayank Agarwal, and speedster Mohammad Shami have also arrived. Wriddhiman Saha was the only one for SRH to join them in UAE from Manchester.
Apart from the six-day hard quarantine as per the IPL protocols, the players will also undergo three COVID-19 tests before resuming outdoor practice with the squad.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians (MI) star players Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav landed in UAE with their families for the second leg of IPL 2021. They took a charter flight from Manchester to Abu Dhabi on Saturday (September 11).
Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians will play the opening match of the second phase on September 19 in Dubai. Both the teams have already clashed in the first phase and MI had emerged as the winner after a match-winning knock by Kieron Pollard.
