The last of the remaining players, that of Australia and England, landed in the UAE on the night of Thursday, 17 September. Covered from head to toe with protective gear, all the players flew in a charter plane, in order to be there in time for the 13th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The limited-overs series between Australia and England ended on Wednesday, with Australia winning the series 2-1. As soon as the series came to an end, the 22 players, who were due to come and play the IPL were on board.
The Rajasthan Royals were the first ones to post about their players. Also, their contingent was the biggest, with five players. However, as soon as the RR’s social media team put the post, the netizens were quick to note Jos Buttler’s absence from the same.
The picture included the skipper Steve Smith and fast bowlers Jofra Archer, Andrew Tye and Tom Curran. Since all of them were covered in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, the RR handle wrote asking the fans, “Can you guess who's who?”
English bowling all-rounder Sam Curran was next as he put up a picture on his Instagram story with the Chennai Super Kings jersey, expressing his excitement for the IPL. Sam Curran is one of the CSK’s latest recruits after he was let go of by the Kings XI Punjab.
Others in the line were the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Kolkata Knight Riders. The Sunrisers Hyderabad informed on Twitter that the skipper David Warner, wicket-keeper and opening batsman Jonny Bairstow and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh had landed safely in Dubai.
While Kolkata Knight Riders put up a few pictures of the English limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan, fast bowler Pat Cummins and the opening batsman Tom Banton, saying that their last three stars, too, had arrived safely.
However, the lack of clarity on the playing of some of these players from the first game still persists. A BCCI official told news agency PTI that all the players arriving from Manchester just needed to be in 36 hours of quarantine and will be available after that, for their respective teams.
But, quarantine rules of Abu Dhabi differed from the official as a report in ESPNcricinfo said that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are due to play their first game in Abu Dhabi on 23 September, so questions still remain on the availability of Banton, Cummins and Morgan for KKR’s first game. Mumbai Indians are the only team whose whole overseas contingent is already there in the UAE, and will be available from the first game, starting on Saturday.
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