The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to take place in the UAE from September 19 to November 10.
IPL 2020 will be a 53-day event, and on ten of the days, doubleheaders will be scheduled. On the day when two matches will be played in a day, the first game will start at 3.30 pm IST and the second match will begin at 7.30 pm IST. All the matches will be played in three cities of the UAE – Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
However, the ongoing pandemic has forced for certain international series to be rescheduled. As a result, players from England and Australia are set to miss the first few matches of the IPL T20.
England Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) on Friday confirmed the schedule for Australia’s tour to the UK. The two teams will play a limited-overs series, comprising of three T20Is and three ODIs, from September 4-16. The T20Is will be played on September 4, 6 and 8 in Southampton followed by ODIs on September 11, 13 and 16 in Manchester.
Therefore, the latest that the English and Aussie players can reach UAE is on September 17 or 18, but as per the IPL 2020 SOP, the cricketers have to be quarantined for six days with RT-PCR tests on Day 1, Day 3, and Day 6, respectively. On the seventh day, they would be entering the bio-secure bubble, given that their tests return negative on all three occasions.
Therefore, none of the players will be available for selection in the first two-three games for their respective franchises.
Here’s the team-wise list of players who will miss the first few matches of IPL 2020:
- Chennai Super Kings: Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran
- Delhi Capitals: Alex Carey, Jason Roy, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes (earlier pulled himself out of IPL 2020)
- Kings XI Punjab: Chris Jordan, Glenn Maxwell
- Kolkata Knight Riders: Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Tom Banton
- Mumbai Indians: None
- Rajasthan Royals: Andrew Tye, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, Tom Curran
- Royal Challengers Bangalore: Aaron Finch, Joshua Philippe, Kane Richardson, Moeen Ali
- Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Mitchell Marsh
