The Australian and the English players arriving in UAE to play the Indian Premier League, 2020 after completing the white ball series at United Kingdom are allowed to play after a quarantine session that will last for 36 hours instead of six days as was prescribed earlier by BCCI under the presidentship of former cricketer Saurav Ganguly.
This was confirmed anonymously by a BCCI functionary privy. This change is decision can make the teams sigh in relief as the star players of their teams will be available to play from the very beginning of the series.
Players that will fall under the thirty-six hours quarantine rule include big names like Steve Smith, David Warner, Jofra Archer, Jos Butler and many others who arrived Thursday night in UAE time. Their arrival also necessitates that they undergo the RT-PCR test required for the diagnosis of the COVID-19 virus.
According to the BCCI, every player is supposed to undergo robust COVID-19 testing under the IPL 2020 protocol and to that effect the players from UK have already been tested once before they had boarded their flights en route UAE.
A six day quarantine period would prove detrimental to teams like Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capital, Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals and The Kolkata Knight Riders who are heavily dependent on British and Australian players this year. The Kolkata Knight Riders who have Eoin Morgan, Tom Banton and Pat Cummins in the team, will play the opening match. According to sources, a senior Australian player had sent a letter to BCCI president Saurav Ganguly for the reduction of the quarantine period for the players earlier.
