NEW DELHI: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) has flown in skipper Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav along with their families on a charter flight from Manchester to Abu Dhabi on Saturday morning.
They will now undergo six days of quarantine and then link up with the Mumbai Indians' squad. Rohit, Surya and Bumrah tested negative for Covid-19 before departure from Manchester and after arrival in Abu Dhabi.
"Mumbai Indians flew in three of its Indian contingent members, captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav, to Abu Dhabi on a private charter flight. The trio, along with their families, arrived today morning and will now undergo 6 days' hard quarantine, starting today as per the IPL's guidelines," said Mumbai Indians in an official statement.
"All members had returned negative RT-PCR results before departure. A new RT-PCR test was undertaken upon arrival at Abu Dhabi, which was negative as well," it added.
Chennai Super Kings' players are also expected to land in Dubai on Saturday.
"Now that the Test match is off, we are looking to get the CSK boys into Dubai tomorrow," CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan told ANI on Friday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is also arranging a charter flight to get Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj into Dubai on Sunday morning, ahead of the resumption of the IPL 2021.
"Yes, we have arranged a charter flight for Virat and Siraj, both of them will be flying out at 11:30 pm UK time on Saturday and they will reach Dubai early Sunday morning. Safe transit of players is the utmost priority for RCB. They will undergo six-day quarantine there before joining the team bubble," an RCB source told ANI.
Earlier on Friday, the fifth Test match between England and India was cancelled in Manchester.
The BCCI and ECB held several rounds of discussion to find a way to play the Test match; however, the outbreak of Covid-19 in the Indian team contingent forced the decision of calling off the game.
The 14th season of the IPL, which was postponed in May this year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, will resume on September 19 in Dubai with the game between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.
