The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to arrange charter flights for the IPL bound players who are currently in the UK. The players who are currently in Manchester will be flying out to UAE on Saturday. The final Test between England and India had to be cancelled after a covid scare in the Indian contingent. Now with the match abandoned, the Indian players are waiting eagerly to join their IPL franchises and be in a stricter bio-bubble. The second half of the IPL kicks off on September 19.
“The players will be flying out to UAE today itself. BCCI has coordinated with the franchises and arranged charter flights. Few of the franchises had already made some arrangements with commercial flights on Friday itself,” a BCCI official told TOI on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile all the Indian and the English players who will take part in the IPL are in isolation in a hotel in Manchester and will continue to be in their hotel rooms until their departure for UAE.
“Technically, there had been no bubble during the series. The players will have to serve a six-day quarantine upon reaching UAE. So, the earlier they leave Manchester the less time they will have to spend in isolation. The franchises will take better care of the players,” a franchise official told TOI.
The players had a very tough time in the last 48 hours with several players not managing a good sleep as they waited for BCCI and ECB to come to a conclusion after their physio Yogesh Parmar contracted the virus.
Meanwhile, Onecricket learns that the travel plans either by a charter or a commercial flight won’t really matter as all the players have to undergo a six-day self-isolation after reaching the middle east nation.