CHENNAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has managed to get clearance from the United Arab Emirates local health authorities with regards to relaxing of quarantine rules for players arriving from Manchester.
However, the relaxation applies only to those players who will be stationed in Dubai. Those heading to Abu Dhabi will have to spend six days in quarantine before being allowed to play, which means Kolkata Knight Riders will be without Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins and Tom Banton against Mumbai Indians for their first match on September 23.
On Thursday night (local time), 21 players arrived in Dubai via a charter flight from Manchester. As reported by this newspaper, the BCCI had made a request to the local health authorities to relax the quarantine rules since all of them are arriving in Dubai from a bio-secure bubble in Manchester through a special corridor created specifically for their safe passage at both airports.
In fact, the BCCI had stated in its Health and Safety protocols that if the franchises take care of these aspects then quarantine may be relaxed.
While the franchises ensured it, the local health authorities were in no mood to relax the norms because of the rise in number of Covid-19 cases.
However, after BCCI made an appeal, they granted certain relaxations on Thursday. Players, who will be picked from the Dubai airport tarmac, will have to head to their respective team hotels in buses which are sanitized. All of them have to wear PPE kits through the journey.
On Friday, all of them have to undergo a RT-PCR test, the result of which will be out in 36 hours. If it’s negative, they will be allowed to enter the bio-secure bubble and will be available to play.
If all of them test negative, the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey will be available to take the field on Sunday in Dubai where Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Capitals clash.
But the biggest beneficiaries will be Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals who can have David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Steve Smith (pending medical clearance), Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler for their opening matches. Kolkata, though, will be severely hit.
Though they are the last team to play the first match, they will miss the services of Morgan and Cummins. The last day of the quarantine ends on September 23. Chennai won’t be able to field Josh Hazlewood and Sam Curran against Mumbai.