The ongoing bilateral series between Sri Lanka and South Africa is the cause of concern for many franchises as it has put the availability of players in doubt for the opening week of phase 2 of IPL 2021 which is scheduled to start on 19th September.
Aiden Markram (PBKS), Tabraiz Shamsi (RR), Wanindu Hasaranga (RCB), Dushmantha Chameera (RCB), David Miller (RR) and Quinton de Kock (MI) are the players who are doubtful to play the first few matches of the rescheduled IPL.
One of the franchises’ officials said, “We are in talks with BCCI over the status of the players’ quarantine for Sri Lanka vs South series. We expected them to directly join the bubble as they are currently in a bio-secure environment in Sri Lanka. But the red-list has created confusion and we have approached BCCI for clarity.”
With Sri Lanka already on the present UAE’s red list, there is no clarity whether the players will be available for the first few matches of the second phase or not.
As per the rules, all the players who will be coming from Sri Lanka will be serving a 6-day quarantine after they arrive in the UAE. South African bowler Lungi Ngidi arrived in the UAE and is currently under mandatory quarantine.
Up to eight players are scheduled to arrive in the UAE tomorrow and serve their quarantine.
One of the BCCI officials said, “We should have clarity on that today. We had confirmation that players arriving from Sri Lanka will not be needing quarantine. But it has changed due to Sri Lanka’s continuous red-list status. Since all the players are vaccinated with two doses and are in bio-bubble in Colombo, we expect to get clearance.”
The first match of the second phase of IPL will be played between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings on 19th September.