IPL 2020: MI, KKR unhappy with having to stay in quarantine for 7 more days
IPL franchises Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders have been left unhappy, considering that they will have to serve an additional seven days in quarantine, as per the rules prevailing in Abu Dhabi.
KKR had been one of the first teams to arrive in the UAE as they reached their base on the 20th of August. MI followed closely as they touched down in Abu Dhabi on August 21th.
The rest of the IPL franchises, who have already served the mandatory seven day quarantine in Dubai, have either begun training or will start going through the paces in the upcoming days.
However, MI and KKR can't start practising for the thirteenth edition of the IPL as they have to follow the quarantine rules prevalent in Abu Dhabi, which prohibit any movement outside until a fourteen day quarantine period is served.
In turn, this has delayed their training and conditioning camps by a week, something that has not gone down too well.
The development seems to have irked the two franchises involved, with a support staff member of the Mumbai Indians appealing to the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) to intervene and resolve the matter.
“We have requested BCCI to intervene. We were told we have to follow 7 days quarantine period but now it has come to our knowledge that as per the local norms we will be in 14 days quarantine”, said an unnamed support staff member with the Mumbai Indians team.
IPL 2020 schedule to be released soon
The much-awaited schedule for IPL 2020 will be released by the end of this week and the same was revealed by IPL Governing Council Chairman Brijesh Patel.
There are rumours of the IPL being divided into two legs to minimise the travelling involved. The 56 league stage matches are expected to be divided as follows.
1st Leg: Abu Dhabi - 21 matches
2nd Leg: Dubai - 21 matches
3rd Leg: Sharjah - 14 matches
The teams may return to Dubai for the play-offs of the IPL. However, there has been no clarity regarding the same, so far.
IPL GC Chairman Brijesh Patel and Hemang Amin are due to meet various UAE government officials on Thursday, following which the IPL schedule could finally be unveiled.