Steve Smith among 21 players from Australia’s tour of England to undergo 36-hour quarantine in UAE

The limited-overs series between England and Australia concluded on Wednesday, with Australia winning the ODI series 2-1. With the conclusion of the aforementioned series, 21 IPL bound players from both the squads are supposed to be flown into the UAE, where the 13th edition of the marquee T20 league is being hosted. However, with the IPL starting on September 19, it would’ve been impossible for these players to serve the usual 6-day quarantine phase. Hence, the BCCI arranged a shortened 36-hour quarantine phase for these 21 cricketers.

"Yes, I can confirm that all the English and Australian players have to now undergo 36-hour quarantine instead of six days. The matter has been sorted and most of the teams will now have their big stars available from the first game itself," a senior IPL functionary privy to development told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad representatives, Steve Smith, David Warner, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, are scheduled to arrive in the UAE late on Thursday night (UAE time) from the UK. The players will have to undergo a mandatory RT-PCR test for the novel



coronavirus on their arrival.

"They have undergone one rapid test before boarding (the flight) and will undergo another on arrival. Otherwise, the robust testing protocols will be followed as usual. The rationale behind the move is that all the players are entering from one bio-bubble to another," the veteran BCCI official said.

As understood, these foreign players had earlier written to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly requesting for a 3-day quarantine, instead of 6.

"The BCCI did a great job in reducing the quarantine period to 36 hours. This means teams like Chennai Super Kings (Josh Hazlewood and Tom Curran), Rajasthan Royals (Smith, Buttler, Archer) will have all their players available from their first game. Ditto for Kings XI Punjab that has Glenn Maxwell in its roster and Delhi Capitals that has Alex Carry," a franchise official said, on getting the news of the shortened quarantine period.

Meanwhile Kolkata Knight Riders recruits- Eoin Morgan, Tom Banton and Pat Cummins- would have enough time to gear up for the IPL as their team starts its IPL 2020 campaign only in September 23.