Australia and England have confirmed their limited overs Cricket series set to be held in England during September.
The series will comprise of three T20 Internationals and three One Day Internationals starting on September 4 and will end on September 16. The Indian Premier League 2020 is scheduled to start on September 19 in the UAE.
Twelve of the 21 players – including Aussie skipper Aaron Finch (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and his deputy Pat Cummins (Kolkata Knight Riders) – who have been named in Australia’s squad for the three T20Is and three ODIs in England, are set to miss the start of IPL 2020 because of the IPL’s Covid-19 testing protocols.
Apart from Finch and Cummins, David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Steven Smith (Royals), Glenn Maxwell (Kings XI Punjab), Mitchell Marsh (Sunrisers), Josh Phillipe and Kane Richardson (Royal Challengers), Alex Carey and Marcus Stoinis (both Delhi Capitals), Josh Hazlewood (Chennai Super Kings) and Andrew Tye (Royals), are among those in the England tour group with IPL contracts who will be missing out on the action from the first week in UAE.
According to the IPL’s SOPs, once the squads have landed in the UAE, all the members will have to undergo a test at the airport before they head to their respective team hotels. From this point, the IPL testing protocol will kick in: each squad will undergo a mandatory 7-day quarantine in their hotel, and all the squad members will undergo testing three times in the week – on the first, third and sixth day. If all three results are negative, the squad can commence their training schedule. Post that, each player will be tested again on the fifth day of every week throughout the IPL.
The franchises had recently requested the IPL to relax the quarantine period for the group of players travelling to the UAE after the England v Australia series, but they got an unofficial thumbs down even as they wait for a final set of SOPs, which also need to be approved by the UAE government
Defending IPL champions Mumbai Indians are the only franchise that will remain unaffected in terms of player unavailability, as Nathan Coulter-Nile and Chris Lynn, the two Australians in their squad, weren’t selected for the tour. Lynn is instead preparing to turn out for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League, which will kick off on August 18.
