IPL 2020: Teams hire flight for 22 players at approx 1,00,000 pounds

Seven franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) have hired a chartered flight to transport 22 players from Manchester to Dubai at a cost of around 1,00,000 pounds. The Australian and English players are currently on the white-ball tour of England that ends on Wednesday, September 16. While the T20Is are taking place in Southampton, Manchester is the host for the ODI series.

David Warner, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Aaron Finch Pat Cummins, Tom Banton, Jofra Archer will take the flight and should be reaching the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their team’s opening matches. Mumbai Indians (MI) are the only team, who didn’t hire the flight as no player from the ongoing England tour is part of their squad.

It has all been taken care of: IPL franchise official

As per Mumbai Mirror, efforts are being made to transport the players to the IPL bubble so that the six-day quarantine period is exempted. The Kolkata Knight Riders are based in Abu Dhabi and will need their players to serve the quarantine period. Their request for a delayed start has been accepted and all three of Morgan, Banton and Cummins will be eligible to play on September 23.

“It has all been taken care of. The idea is that they are not outside of the bubble. If we had flown them by commercial flights, they would have had to undergo quarantine. And cost-wise also it would have been dearer as each player will have to be flown by business class. Close to Rs 1 crore for 22 players is not much I suppose,” a franchise official said.

It’s been learned that after the final ODI at the Old Trafford, the IPL-bound players will travel to the airport in a sanitised bus. The players won’t be stopped for lengthy immigration process. The players will also board a sanitised aircraft, which would land at a different airport, not the Dubai International Airport.

The respective teams will have to send their buses or other vehicles, which have been a part of their bio-secure bubble. The opening match will be played between the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on September 19.