Picture Credit: IPL/BCCI
While the England-India Test series came to a premature end with the final Test match at Manchester getting cancelled, it is now being learned that Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is arranging a charter flight to get Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj in Dubai on Sunday morning. The two platers will then undergo a 6-day quarantine period before joining the team bubble.
A report carried by ANI has confirmed that Virat and Siraj will be flying out from Manchester in a charter flight on Saturday night and will reach Dubai early on Sunday morning.
"Yes, we have arranged a charter flight for Virat and Siraj, both of them will be flying out at 11:30 PM UK time on Saturday and they will reach Dubai early Sunday morning. Safe transit of players is the utmost priority for RCB. They will undergo 6-day quarantine there before joining the team bubble," a source close to the development was quoted in this ANI report.
While the fifth and final Test match at Manchester was supposed to get underway on Friday, the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Indian team contingent forced the decision of calling off the match after several rounds of discussion between the cricket boards of both countries.
RCB to resume IPL 2021 campaign against KKR
Meanwhile, the 14th season of IPL, which was supposed to end in May but had to be postponed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is all set to resume on September 19 in Dubai with a riveting encounter between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will resume their campaign the following day with them facing Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi. Sharjah, meanwhile, will host its first game of this year on September 24 when Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Chennai Super Kings. Overall, as many as 13 matches will be held in Dubai, 10 in Sharjah and 8 in Abu Dhabi. Reports also confirmed that there would not be any contact tracing devices for the UAE leg of the tournament. In case, any player tests positive for infection, it will be the Bubble Integrity Officer who will do the necessary contact tracing.