IPL 2020: Three COVID-19 tests to be conduct in a week on arrival in UAE

The Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) plans to conduct three COVID-19 tests on each player and support staff of all 8 Indian Premier League ( IPL) franchises in a week of their arrival in the UAE, for the rescheduled edition of the T20 league which will be kicked off on 19th September.

It is understands that according to SOPs, the final draft is expected to be shared with the franchises later this week — in addition to a compulsory PCR test within 96 hours before departure, and each player and support staff member need to test negative thrice during the week long quarantine in UAE in order to be permitted enter the bio-secure bubble.

An IPL insider disclosed that there will be 3 tests, which on the day of arrival, on the third and sixth day. Once the player or support staff get the third negative results, only then that person will be allowed to enter the bubble, and everyone in the bubble will then be tested every fifth day until the competition is over.

Meanwhile, the BCCI plans to make training facilities available to all 8 franchises in UAE for pre-tournament camps starting 27th August. Barring Chennai Super Kings, cricketers from all the other teams told the media that they were told for tentative departure on 19th or 20th August. Only CSK players have been informed "to be ready to leave on 10th August." For most squads, the departure date is sync with completing the required week-long quarantine before the on-field preparation begins.

It is understood that SOPs and schedules will only be officially shared with the franchises once the BCCI receives the letter of approval from the central government, which should be very soon. In addition , the operation rules, which define the training schedule, will also be provided to all the franchises.

The franchise official said that they only hope that when it comes to issues like the number of training sessions under the lights allocated to teams, there will be no favouritism.