The umpires and match officials for IPL 2020 have tested negative for the coronavirus and they are all set for officiating duties in the tournament.
The IPL 2020 has finally received some good news. After the start of the tournament was postponed and the preparations of the Chennai Super Kings team were thrown into disarray due to the coronavirus, there has finally been some good news. The umpires and match officials who are part of the tournament have tested coronavirus negative and are all set for officiating duties in the marquee T20 tournament that begins on September 19. A total of 12 Indian umpires, three international umpires and five match referees have all tested coronavirus negative as their mandatory six-day quarantine period nears an end.
According to BCCI sources, every official was tested on the third and sixth day of their quarantine period and in both cases, they turned out to be coronavirus negative. There is one team of officials in Abu Dhabi while others are staying put in Dubai. When all of them arrived in Dubai, they were sent to quarantine immediately.
However, the quarantine rules in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are vastly different, with Abu Dhabi slightly more stricter than Dubai. There is no such problems in Dubai and Sharjah. This is primarily one of the reasons why a set of match officials will be posted in Abu Dhabi for the remainder of the tournament instead of travelling to and fro. The three international umpires are Chris Gaffaney of New Zealand, Paul Reiffel of Australia and Richard Illingworth of England. The 12 Indian umpires are Anil Chaudhary, M Shamshuddin, Virendra Sharma, KN Ananthapadmanabhan, Nitin Menon, S Ravi, Vineet Kulkarni, Yashwant Borde, Ulhas Gandhe, K Srinivasan, Anil Dandekar and Paschim Pathak. The match referres are Javagal Srinath, Manu Nayar, V Narayan Kutty, Shakti Singh and Prakash Bhatt
No quarantine relaxations
However, there seems to be some confusion regarding the quarantine rules of the England and Australia players for the tournament.
Chennai Super Kings bowling consultant Eric Simons has said the Australian players will self-isolate for six days on their arrival in the UAE. Steve Smith, David Warner and Josh Hazlewood will join their respective IPL teams in the UAE after the third and final ODI against England.
“We are hearing - although it’s not confirmed yet - that they will also have to self-isolate in their rooms for six days and produce negative tests on the first, third and sixth days before they can join us. We had hoped that they could all move from their current bio-secure bubbles into ours but it seems likely that there will be no ‘leniency’, which is understandable,” Simons said.
The Australians will arrive in the UAE on September 17 and according to Simons, the players in CSK will have to wear a smart health tracking device whenever they step out of hotel rooms.
However, there are contrasting reports coming from the franchises. Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore is sure that Australia players will be available for their opening game on September 23 against Mumbai Indians while Kings XI Punjab CEO Satish Menon said there is no clarity. Mysore said that there would be no need for them to undergo quarantine, considering the players are travelling from one bio-secure bubble to another.
But Menon is not too sure. "Nobody has any clarity on that yet. The BCCI is supposed to come back on whether the quarantine can be reduced as they are coming from a bubble to [another] bubble. We don't have any clarity as yet. From what I hear from the bubble, things are exactly as it was planned. We have been following the SoP that has been laid out by the BCCI and authorities," Menon said.
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