'England, Australia players will be available for KKR's first match'

KKR's Dinesh Karthik and Nitish Rana

Players from England and Australia coming for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be available for selection for the Kolkata Knight Riders' first game, Venky Mysore, team's CEO said. According to KKR CEO, England and Australia players would not have to undergo the IPL's mandatory six-day quarantine given they are travelling from one bio-secure bubble into another. That means those travelling to Dubai will be available to their teams from day one - Dubai has no mandatory quarantine period unless the person tests positive.

KKR, team based in Abu Dhabi, players need to quarantine for six days under local government rules but even by that timeframe, they should be available for side's first match on September 23. The players will all be flown into the UAE on September 17 - a day after the England-Australia series ends - on a chartered flight. "While they are still negotiating with the authorities, we are reconciled to the fact that we may have to quarantine our three players," ESPNcricinfo quoted Mysore as saying.

"They arrive on September 17, but our first game is on September 23, by which time they would've finished their [concessional six-day] quarantine. So it's worked out well, and it's good for the tournament," he added. KKR have three players who are playing in England-Australia limited-overs series - England captain Eoin Morgan, batsman Tom Banton and Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins. KKR and Mumbai Indians are the only two teams based in Abu Dhabi and the latter has no players coming in from the England-Australia series. The six other teams are based in Dubai.

"What we did was put a plan together and shared it with the medical team at the IPL. We told them, 'they're in a bio-secure bubble in the UK," Mysore said

"What if we brought them on a sanitised charter flight and we took care of all the elements of immigration, testing, contactless stuff and everything to allow them to come right into a bubble here?' To give credit to IPL, they took it very constructively and they have a written Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for that, which says if you're coming from a bubble to another bubble, you don't need the mandatory quarantine period," he added.

Earlier, speaking to ANI, an IPL official said that the fact that Restrata was handling the bio-bubbles in both the UK and UAE could further work in favour of the English and Australian players and help them get onto the ground without having to go for the six-day quarantine.

"Restrata is the common factor in both the UK and UAE when it comes to creating the bio-secure environment and they would be very much aware what needs to be done to ensure that the bubble doesn't break when it comes to the players travelling from England to Dubai to be a part of the IPL. So, Restrata handling the bubbles in both places can actually work in favour of the players and save them from undergoing six days of quarantine if they have the COVID-19 negative report with them," the official had explained.

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