The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has told all the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises that every players coming to the United Arab Emirates from the United Kingdom has to undergo six days of hard quarantine before joining the existing team bubbles for the second leg of the IPL.

“The BCCI has informed us that every player coming in from UK to UAE will have to undergo six days of quarantine before they can join the team bubbles. Obviously, the bubble to bubble transfer from UK to UAE no longer stands keeping in mind the current scenario,” news agency ANI quoted an official as saying.

This development comes in the wake of the fifth and final India vs England Test in Manchester being canceled due to a couple of COVID-19 positive cases. Following the cancellation, IPL franchises, on Friday, got the players out of Manchester to the UAE for the resumption of the cash-rich league.

As per media reports, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is reportedly arranging a charter flight to help Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj reach Dubai on Sunday morning.

“Yes, we have arranged a charter flight for Virat and Siraj, both of them will be flying out at 11:30 PM UK time on Saturday and they will reach Dubai early Sunday morning. Safe transit of players is the utmost priority for RCB. They will undergo 6-day quarantine there before joining the team bubble,” ANI quoted a team source as saying.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK), on the other hand, is hoping to get its players to Dubai by Saturday. CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan confirmed the development and said the team is keeping fingers crossed that the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur and Cheteshwar Pujara can fly into Dubai on Saturday.

“Now that the Test match is off, we are looking to get the CSK boys into Dubai tomorrow,” he said on Friday.

The 14th season of the lucrative T20 tournament will resume on September 19 after it was halted due to COVID. The first match will be played between the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.

The second match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore will be played in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, Sharjah will host its first game on September 24 that will be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings.

In all, 13 matches will be held in Dubai, 10 in Sharjah, and 8 in Abu Dhabi.