IPL 2020: Squads, Schedule, Travel, Bio-bubble, testing positive, standard guidelines - All you need to know

The much-awaited government nod for conducting the IPL in the UAE came out as the final nail in the coffin for all the speculations and rumors doing rounds about the Indian Premier League. The untiring efforts of the BCCI in the last two months have paid off as Brijesh Patel, the IPL Governing Council chairman, confirmed about receiving the green signal from the government of India and the tournament is finally set to go underway from 19 September 2020.

The T20 extravaganza shifted in its entirety to the UAE in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be played over 53 days involving 60 matches at the three venues: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. Although the schedule of the tournament has not yet been released, the eight franchises have begun their preparations in full flow.

The IPL has shared with the franchises a 16-page long draft document of standard operating procedures (SOPs) that lays down rigorous guidelines regarding testing procedures, maintaining bio-secure bubbles, repercussions of breaching the SOP, social distancing in dressing rooms and a host of other such regulations.

Let’s us take a look at the changed avatar of the IPL this year-

Testing and Traveling directives

• Franchises are not allowed to leave before August 20 and have been advised to use chartered planes to travel to the UAE.
• The BCCI is likely to make training facilities in UAE available for pre-tournament camps starting August 27.
• All the players will have to necessarily undergo two RT-PCR tests one day prior to their arrival in UAE and entire support staff and players will have to be tested thrice in the span of 6 days post-arrival.
• They will have to remain under quarantine for this period in their hotel rooms and only after all three tests result negative they are allowed into the bio-secure environments for regular training and practice.
• Once the squad lands in the UAE, all members need to undergo a test at the airport before heading to the team hotel.
• Additional tests will be conducted as per need, and all the squad members will be tested on the fifth day of every week throughout the tournament.
• All franchises have been asked to appoint a team doctor who will be responsible for ensuring bio-secure guidelines during the tournament.
• The franchise medical team should obtain a complete medical and travel history (since 1st March 2020) of all players and team support staff at least 2 weeks before the scheduled departure to UAE.

Bio-secure bubble

• The Bio-Secure Environment means only essential staff will be on-site and no members of the public will be allowed.
• The BCCI will be ensuring bio-secure bubbles in 4 broadly categorized environments: Hotels, Training sessions, Matches, and Transportations.
• All 8 teams will have to stay in different hotels and all are advised to occupy smaller properties which can be booked in full/separate wings.
• Squad members have also been asked to wear masks outside their rooms at hotels and avoid any unnecessary movement.
• Players and support staff will not be allowed to leave the bubble once entered throughout the duration of IPL 2020.

Family members of the players

• Though the families are allowed to travel with the players and team support staff to the UAE, the franchisees need to ensure that the family members abide by all the mandatory protocols.
• If the owners and family members step outside the bubble, they will need to undergo a week-long quarantine and fresh testing before re-entering the bio-secure environment.
• Families will not be allowed to travel with the players and support staff on the team bus.
• Any breach of the protocols would be punishable under the tournament’s code of conduct.

Team meetings and dressing room protocols

• Video and remote conference call technology is recommended.
• For group meetings to be held in person, they are advised to be held outdoors where possible following social distancing protocols.
• Indoor meetings will have to be conducted in sufficiently large rooms to allow for social distancing.
• Where available, Scalene Hypercharge Corona Canon (Shycocan), a device that has the ability to neutralize 99.9% of the coronavirus that might be floating in the air in closed spaces, will be installed.

Players’ zone and match regulations

• Players must complete the daily temperature checks and heath questionnaire before arriving at the venue of the match.
• The players and staff will need to have personalized belongings including water bottles, towels, and cricket equipment.
• The use of saliva will not be allowed on the cricket ball.
• The protocols lay down specific time slots for players to use the gym and state that the same set of players should train together.
• During a match, there will be a single point of entry into the ground.
• Electronic team sheets have been recommended during the toss when the captains usually exchange the playing elevens.
• There will also be designated seats for players in areas such as the dugouts.

Testing positive during the tournament

• Suspected/positive cases will be immediately isolated from the rest of the squad and the infected person would be put in a sanitized room within the same hotel.
• The team doctor will have to inform the IPL Medical manager immediately and “the case will be managed in close coordination with accredited hospitals and treatment centers equipped with COVID-19 testing and treatment.”
• With provisions in place for isolation in designated areas outside the bio-bubble, the individual will have to stay there for a period of two weeks.
• After the 2 weeks of isolation, the individual must result in 2 negative PCR test reports done 24 hours apart before being permitted to re-enter the Bio-Secure Environment.

Schedule

Not released yet. To be updated.

Venues

• Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
• Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
• Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah

Squads

Chennai Super Kings

Retained: Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Jagadeesan Narayan, Karn Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Monu Singh, MS Dhoni, M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Suresh Raina.

Signed: Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Josh Hazlewood, Sai Kishore

Kolkata Knight Riders

Retained: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi.

Traded In: Siddesh Lad

Signed: Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan, Tom Banton, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Chris Green, M Siddharth, Praveen Tambe, Nikhil Naik

Mumbai Indians

Retained: Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Sherfane Rutherford, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McCleneghan, Rahul Chahar,

Traded In: Sherfane Rutherford, Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni

Signed: Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohsin Khan, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Digvijay Deshmukh

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Retained: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Shreevats Goswami, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhishek Sharma, Mohammad Nabi, and Vijay Shankar, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, Khaleel Ahmed, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddharth Kaul, and T Natarajan.

Signed: Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Mitchell Marsh, Bavanaka Sandeep, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav, Abdul Samad

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Retained: AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar, and Shivam Dubey, Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Signed: Chris Morris, Pavan Deshpande, Aaron Finch, Joshua Philippe, Shahbaz Ahamad, Kane Richardson, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana

Delhi Capitals

Retained: Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, and Sandeep Lamichhane.

Traded In: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane

Signed: Jason Roy, Alex Carey, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes, Marcus Stoinis, Mohit Sharma, Lalit Yadav, Tushar Deshpande

Rajasthan Royals

Retained: Jos Buttler (WK), Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson (WK), Shashank Singh, and Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Mahipal Lomrar, Ankit Rajpoot, Jofra Archer, Mayank Markhande, Rahul Tewatia, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron.

Signed: Jaydev Unadkat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Robin Uthappa, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh, Anuj Rawat, Anirudha Joshi, David Miller, Andrew Tye, Tom Curran

Kings XI Punjab

Retained: Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Harpreet Brar, and K Gowtham, Arshdeep Singh, Hardus Viljoen, J Suchith, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Murugan Ashwin.

Signed: Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Prabhsimran Singh, Deepak Hooda, James Neesham, Tajinder Dhillon, Ishan Porel