IPL 2021: Virat Kohli to join RCB camp on April 1; will undergo another quarantine
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli will join the franchise in Chennai on Thursday, April 1. Post the conclusion of the ODI series against England, the 32-year-old decided to leave the bubble and not travel with his other teammates.
This means that Virat Kohli will have to undergo a week-long quarantine when he arrives in Chennai in a few days, as IPL guidelines state that players who come from outside the bubble have to be quarantined.
With RCB slated to play the tournament opener against Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 9, Kohli would hardly have any turnaround time before he steps on the field, with his quarantine period set to end on April 8.
For full IPL schedule 2021 click here.
Virat has been in a bio-secure environment since the end of January, having played each of the four Tests, five T20Is, and three ODIs against England.
Earlier today, Virat Kohli shared a short video from his workout session expressing his excitement about the IPL.
"Scheduling needs to be looked at in future" - Virat Kohli
After clinching the three-match ODI series against England on Sunday, Virat Kohli emphasized that administrators should look into scheduling tournaments and series' better.
Virat Kohli added that it is tough to stay mentally strong in the bubble-environment, and expressed hope that there would be talks in the future in this regard.
"Scheduling needs to be looked at in future, because playing in bubbles for so long, two to three months, is going to be very, very difficult going forward," Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
"You can't expect everyone to be at the same level of mental strength. Sometimes you do get cooked and you do feel like a bit of a change. I am sure things will be discussed and things will change in the future as well. But a different tournament, it brings fresh challenges heading into the IPL."
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RCB will be playing five of their games in Kolkata this year and another four in Ahmedabad. With bigger boundaries at both these IPL venues, their bowlers will be hopeful of putting up a better performance than in previous years.
The RCB bowling attack has always found it tough to deliver at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where the boundaries are pretty short.