IPL 2021 Phase 2: In desperation, Virat Kohli & Co leave Manchester, arrive in UAE – After 48 hours of a nightmare, most of the Indian players are all set to leave the UK for Dubai to join their respective IPL franchises. While the plan was to get them on a charter flight along with England cricketers after September 15 with the 5th Test cancelled, Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings’ players are taking the commercial option as the Indian cricketers don’t want to stay a minute in England amid the fears of further COVID cases in the camp. Follow Live updates on InsideSport.co
@14:03: KKR’s Prasidh Krishna arrives in Dubai, begins quarantine.
England 🛬 UAE 💜 coming soon on the training field at 150.22 KPH 🤩@prasidh43 #KKR #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/bXvXvvCyfY
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) September 12, 2021
@12:45: Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli and pacer Mohammed Siraj arrived in Dubai from the UK. The two boarded a charter flight on Saturday from Manchester, arranged by the franchise.
The news you’ve all been waiting for: King Kohli and Miyan Magic have joined the team in Dubai. 🤩
Bring on #IPL2021. 💪🏻#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers pic.twitter.com/ZNH1CxhAg3
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) September 12, 2021
@11:05: CSK have their men as well. Ravinder Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara have arrived in UAE while Sam Curran and Moeen Ali are also expected.
En-coming 💛
4 times the joy today at Whistles Kingdom! #WhistlePodu #Yellove 🦁 @imjadeja @russcsk pic.twitter.com/eoAMJdKijj
— Chennai Super Kings – Mask P😷du Whistle P🥳du! (@ChennaiIPL) September 12, 2021
@10:25: SRH wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha has also begun his quarantine upon reaching UAE on Sunday.
Swagatham Saha! 🙏
The experienced wicket-keeper has arrived at the #Risers camp 🧡#OrangeArmy #OrangeOrNothing @Wriddhipops pic.twitter.com/NSfv4NXxwT
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) September 12, 2021
@10:15, Sunday: Seven Delhi Capitals stars — Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw & Umesh Yadav — have also arrived in Dubai. They had taken the flight last night from Manchester.
View this post on Instagram
“The Delhi Capitals players who were part of the Indian squad for the Test series against England landed in Dubai safely on Sunday, 12 September 2021 for the second half of the VIVO IPL 2021. The players underwent Covid-19 tests upon arrival in Dubai,” Delhi Capitals said in a statement.
“The players will be serving a 6-day hard quarantine, as per IPL protocols, during which they will be tested thrice. Thereafter, the players will join the rest of the Delhi Capitals squad, who are already part of the bio-bubble,” it added.
@18:55: Delhi Capitals’ Ravichandran Ashwin and Chennai Super Kings’ Cheteshwar Pujara have also boarded commercial flights to Dubai. Both players are travelling together. Another DC star Prithvi Shaw has also boarded the flight.
@18:45: The two non-IPL players — Abhimanyu Easwaran and Arjan Nagwaswalla — will come back with India’s support staff on Saturday night. They will take the flight to Dubai and then to India in a commercial flight.
@18:30: Rajasthan Royals’ Liam Livingstone is also amongst the players coming from UK along with Indian cricketers. He wasn’t in England’s Test squad.
I̶s̶ ̶L̶i̶a̶m̶ ̶L̶i̶v̶i̶n̶g̶s̶t̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶g̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶v̶a̶i̶l̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶#̶I̶P̶L̶2̶0̶2̶1̶?̶ 𝗬𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘀𝘀! 😍💗#HallaBol | #IPL2021 | @liaml4893 pic.twitter.com/yrJPpaX2O0
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) September 11, 2021
@18:30: Punjab Kings’ Mohammed Shami has also boarded the flight to Dubai.
View this post on Instagram
@18:15: Sunrisers Hyderabad managed to arrange a charter flight for Wriddhiman Saha for UAE.
Here I come, Dubai! @SunRisers #UAE #Dubai pic.twitter.com/WXcecMR81K
— Wriddhiman Saha (@Wriddhipops) September 11, 2021
@ 17:05: Delhi Capitals players Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Umesh Yadav and Axar Patel.
“Pant is reaching Dubai tomorrow night and will undergo a 6-day quarantine just like the other players coming from UK,” a source said told ANI.
CSK and PBKS confirmed to InsideSport that their Indian players are taking commercial airlines tonight and will reach Dubai on Sunday morning while some England players will accompany them. The franchises tried to arrange charter flights, since it was a last-minute option, they could not and flying commercial was the only option left to leave at the earliest.
IPL 2021: Chennai Super Kings & Punjab Kings players to leave UK in commercial flights tonight along with some England players
IPL 2021 Phase 2: For CSK, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shardul Thakur will be flying together as the franchise has arranged a commercial flight for the trio. They are also expected to accompany Sam Curran and Moeen Ali with them.
“We tried charter flights but since it was a last-minute option, we could not arrange any. Our players will be leaving tonight and will reach Dubai tomorrow. Some of the England players (in IPL) will also come along with them,” CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan told InsideSport.
IPL 2021: Teams that flying out their players from UK
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav along with their families.
Chennai Super Kings: Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shardul Thakur, Moeen Ali and Sam Curran.
Punjab Kings: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj
IPL 2021: Chennai Super Kings & Punjab Kings players to leave UK in commercial flights tonight along with some England players
IPL 2021 Phase 2: As for Punjab Kings, the likes of Dawid Malan, Chris Jordan or Adil Rashid aren’t coming with them but the Indian trio of Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami will be leaving UK tonight. Like the CSK players, they too will be leaving on commercial jets along with their family members.
“We have arranged commercial flights for our players. They will be leaving tonight. As for England players, we expect them to come at a later date. They are not coming along with them,” Punjab Kings CEO Satish Menon told InsideSport.
IPL 2021 Phase 2: As per an ANI report, skipper Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj — the two Royal Challengers Bangalore players — will take a charter flight tonight out of UK while Mumbai Indians players are also expected to take a charter flight.
“Keeping the safety and security of our players as the utmost priority, Royal Challengers Bangalore have arranged a special charter flight for captain Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj to ensure their safe transit to the UAE. The players will be flying out at 11.30 PM (UK time) on Saturday and will arrive in Dubai early Sunday morning. Both, Virat and Siraj will undergo 6-day quarantine in Dubai before joining the team bio-secure bubble,” RCB said in a statement.
The Manchester Test was cancelled after BCCI and ECB failed to convince the players about their well-being. As per reports, the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah could barely sleep on Thursday night and have been in touch with their IPL franchises to sort out travel arrangements for their earliest departure from England.
The players were supposed to leave for UAE after September 15 when the Test ended and were to move from a bubble to bubble without serving any quarantine. But now, they all will have to serve 6-day isolation in the UAE upon arrival in Dubai.
“The BCCI isn’t arranging any charter flights since the Test match has been cancelled. So every franchise is making their own travel arrangement. Since they are all flying commercial, they will be doing six days of room quarantine,” a senior IPL official said.