IPL 2021 Phase 2 – CSK, MI Ready to Board for UAE: On Friday, both MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) & Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians (MI) are scheduled to fly to UAE for IPL 2021. Flights are booked, Crew and the players are ready to board – but there is one hitch. The IPL teams are yet to get permissions from the authorities to land their AIRCRAFTS in UAE. InsideSport.co spoke to CSK’s CEO on Thursday morning at 10.30 AM and till that time they were still waiting for the permissions.
“We have not got permissions as yet. We are continuously in touch with the BCCI and they are speaking to the authorities in UAE. We were earlier told permissions will come in by Wednesday but we have not recieved the same as yet. Let’s see if we recieve the permissions today”, declared CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan to InsideSport.co
When asked if the franchise heard anything from the BCCI in this regard, Vishwanathan responded with a firm ‘NO’
IPL 2021: CSK, Mumbai Indians ready to board for UAE on Friday, but Dhoni’s team CEO says ‘permissions to land still missing’
IPL 2021 Phase 2 – CSK, MI Ready to Board for UAE: After CSK, Mumbai Indians also are ready to go to Dubai but yet to receive landing clearance from UAE Govt- just like MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings
Both the teams are looking to have 1 month camp before the IPL 2021 Phase 2 resumes in UAE.
The problem of landing clearance is due to India’s COVID-19 status in the UAE government. India is still on the list of prohibited countries but the BCCI has arranged special passage for franchises considering everyone is vaccinated. But despite arranging it, the franchises are still waiting for formal clearance from the UAE govt.
IPL 2021 Phase 2: Mumbai Indians also waiting for landing clearance
The same is the case for Mumbai Indians. The defending champions were also supposed to land in Dubai on Friday but are now waiting with the entire crew in quarantine.
“The team is awaiting the landing permission from the UAE government just like CSK and once they get that, they also wish to land in Dubai on Friday. It will be a bubble-to-bubble transfer for MI, but they will still undergo quarantine as per protocols once in UAE. It is bubble-to-bubble because the boys are already in a bubble and training in Mumbai,” a source told ANI.
IPL 2021 Phase 2: The Mumbai Indians unit has been training at their ground in Ghansoli, the Reliance Corporate Park. As per sources, the MI domestic players have been training for the last two weeks after undergoing quarantine. The members currently part of the set-up have also been undergoing regular COVID-19 tests to ensure everyone is risk-free.
Meanwhile, it has come to the fore that only Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders have decided to re-book the hotels they used during the 2020 edition of the IPL. All the other six franchises will stay at new hotels.
IPL 2021 Phase 2: The BCCI SOP had called for teams to preferably book smaller hotel properties so that they could be fully booked for exclusive use by the participants within the Bio-Secure Environments. The SOP further stated that if a larger hotel is chosen, then the participants will be accommodated in a separate wing of the hotel. No other hotel guests will be allowed in the team zones/floors. Dedicated floors/zones will be allotted to each franchise team, match officials and match management teams to avoid mixing of the various groups within the hotel premises.
The action will then shift to Abu Dhabi where Kolkata Knight Riders will square off against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Sharjah will host its first game on September 24 when Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Chennai Super Kings. In all, 13 matches will be held in Dubai, 10 in Sharjah, and 8 in Abu Dhabi.