The schedule for IPL 2020 might be released today after plenty of delay and speculation. The reason for the entire delay was reportedly the 13 cases of the coronavirus in the Chennai Super Kings team as well as the issue of commuting between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Since both cities have different sets of quarantine rules, the staging of inter-state matches was proving to be an issue. However, that has been cleared and now the BCCI is awaiting the coronavirus report of the Chennai Super Kings side.
The three-time IPL champions underwent a coronavirus test on Thursday. The second round of tests was mandated after 13 members of the Chennai Super Kings franchise, including two players tested positive for COVID19.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan announced that if the COVID test reports are negative, then Chennai Super Kings might start training on Friday itself with the exception of Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who tested positive.
However, there could be some more bad news on the way for Chennai Super Kings. Harbhajan Singh has not yet joined the squad and there are reports that he may miss the entire IPL 2020. An unnamed Chennai Super Kings official said that Harbhajan has not yet communicated his decision and it is expected to arrive either by Friday or Saturday. It has been reported that Chennai Super Kings are preparing for back-up in the absence of Harbhajan Singh.
Four Elite Umpires for IPL 2020
Four umpires from the ICC’s Elite Panel are set to officiate in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), starting in the UAE from September 19.
According to BCCI sources in the know of developments, they said that a total of 16 umpires are set to officiate in this edition of the cash-rich league and that will include four umpires from ICC`s Elite Panel.
Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand), Richard Ellingworth (England), Paul Reifel (Australia) and Nitin Menon (India) are the ones from the ICC’s Elite Panel and the rest will be those in BCCI’s own panel. "There are four from ICC’s Elite Panel who have been selected to officiate in the tournament. The rest are Indian umpires. We are looking to bring in the umpires in the UAE around September 10," the sources said.