The thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after getting initially postponed by the BCCI due to coronavirus pandemic. To minimize the traveling of players amid spike in Covid-19 cases, BCCI decided to use Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah as the three venues.
Team India's fiery opener Shikhar Dhawan, who plays for franchise Delhi Capitals in the T20 League, will soon fly to the UAE with rest of his teammates. Ahead of his departure, the hard-hitting opener visited his parents and sought their blessings.
"Came to seek blessings and wishes from my parents before the long tour. They still see me as a kid. There's no love like the love of your parents and I'll always cherish it," Dhawan wrote on Instagram.
In order to begin their pre-season camp, BCCI have allowed team's to fly to UAE after August 19. Kings XI Punjab, (KXIP) on Thursday morning, tweeted a video of their players flying to UAE, becoming the first IPL franchise to fly out to the IPL 2020 host nation.
As per IPL SOP, all players and support staff will be quarantined for seven days upon landing UAE and their RT-PCR tests will be conducted on Day 1, 3 and 6. If they test negative for coronavirus on all three occasions, they will be allowed to enter the bio-secure bubble.
Franchise Delhi Capitals, originally founded as Delhi Daredevils in the year 2008, is the only team that has never qualified for the finals of the T20 League. For the 12th season (2019) of the IPL, Delhi Capitals decided to retain their fourteen players and traded their former player Shikhar Dhawan from Sunrisers Hyderabad.
After seven long years, Delhi Capitals managed to enter playoffs last year by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets. DC ended as the second runners in the playoffs after losing to Dhoni-led CSK by six wickets in the second match.
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