CSK's UK-bound Indian players to fly to Dubai on September 11, confirms CEO Kashi Vishwanathan

Chennai Super Kings are looking to fly their IPL-bound players currently in the United Kingdom to Dubai on Saturday. The franchise’s consideration comes after the fifth Test in Manchester between England and India was cancelled due to Covid-scare in the Indian camp, where assistant physio of visitors Yogesh Parmar tested positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the final gage.

“Following ongoing conversations with the BCCI, the ECB can confirm that the fifth LV= Insurance Test between England and India Men due to start today at Emirates Old Trafford, will be cancelled,” said the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in a statement on September 10.

With the final Test out of the schedule for now, India’s CSK players Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur and Cheteshwar Pujara are set to fly to Dubai, as per CSK’s CEO, Kasi Viswanathan. “Now that the Test match is off, we are looking to get the CSK boys into Dubai tomorrow (September 11)” he said.

CSK, MI to kickstart IPL 2021 second leg

Meanwhile, the 14th edition of the league, which was postponed on May 4 through by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL Governing Council after a spate of Covid-19 cases emerged inside the bio-bubbles of four different teams across two cities, is set to resume in the UAE with the blockbuster clash of Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings on September 19. While the initial leg of the tournament did not have any mishaps, the Covid-19 virus crept in during the second leg of the tournament in Ahmedabad and Delhi.

With the tournament now set to resume in the UAE, the Dubai International Stadium will host 13 of the remaining 31 games including the first qualifier and the final, while Sharjah will have 10 fixtures including the Eliminator and the second qualifier. The remaining fixtures will be played in Abu Dhabi.

The league phase of the tournament is supposed to run until October 8, with the first qualifier scheduled on October 10. The Eliminator, second qualifier and the final will be played on October 11, 13 and 15, respectively. Incidentally, the T20 World Cup 2021 starts only two days after the IPL final.