IPL franchises agree to undergo 6 days mandatory quarantine upon reaching Dubai

The IPL teams will observe a six-day quarantine period upon reaching Dubai, this has been decided in the IPL team owners’ meeting on Wednesday. “We can’t take chances on health issues and team members will observe a six-day quarantine period,” an IPL franchise official told The Indian Express.

As per the Dubai government health protocol, a PCR test needs to be done within 96 hours before embarking and take one after reaching there. Only those tested positive will be quarantined for 14 days. Downloading the ALHOSN App, the official digital platform for Covid-19 testing in United Arab Emirates, however, is mandatory. The teams, though, want to play safe. All of them have decided to leave for Dubai after August 20 and hold their respective camps in UAE.

The meeting via conference call also discussed issues like bio-security and squad strength. It is learnt that every franchise will have to arrange its own bio-security, while a BCCI-appointed agency will supervise the whole thing. This paper understands



that the BCCI is in talks with a couple of agencies. Team owners, meanwhile, agreed on restricting their respective squad strength to 24.

The meeting was held against the backdrop of Vivo’s imminent departure as the IPL’s title sponsor. “The BCCI has informed us orally that Vivo is not there,” said the franchise official. The Board is expected to issue a new RFP (Request for Proposal) to pick a replacement sponsor – likely short-term for the 2020 season. But even within the IPL governing council, there’s a feeling that the new sponsorship amount would be “much less” amid the Covid-forced economic distress. A reduction in title sponsorship revenue will adversely affect both BCCI and franchises, especially the latter, as they are unlikely to get any gate receipts. Revenue from the central pool is distributed in a 60:40 ratio between BCCI and the franchises.

Asked if the team owners decided to seek compensation from the Board, the franchise official said: “No decision has been taken on the issue.”