BCCI issues SOPs for IPL 2021

The board has authorized a bubble-to-bubble transfer of players, which comes as a huge relief for India and England players. As per the report, the players can directly enter a franchise bubble from their respective national-team bubbles without having to undergo the quarantine period. 

“Players coming directly from the Bubble created for India vs. England series may be permitted to join the franchise squad without serving the mandatory quarantine period, provided they satisfy the criteria of moving directly to the franchise team hotel either in the team bus or on a chartered flight (sic).”  - BCCI stated in a note, as accessed by Cricbuzz. 

A total of 12 bio-bubbles will be created - eight will be assigned to franchise teams and support staff, two bubbles for match officials and match management teams, and two for broadcast commentators and crew. 

Interestingly, the BCCI officials and operations team will not be part of any bio-bubble this time around. As a result, they are not allowed to interact with any player, franchise member, broadcasting team and match management teams. The board is also considering appointing a team of bubble integrity officers to ensure that the players and support staff abide by the protocols. 

“Their job will be to report any Bio-secure Environment protocol breaches by members of the franchise team to the BCCI Chief Medical Officer.” the note stated. 

Initially, there were reports that the players would be vaccinated but the board is not willing to employ such a method as of now.  

“The vaccination program against COVID-19 is underway in India and vaccines are currently being administered to the at-risk population viz. front-line workers, health care professionals, people over the age of 60 years and those between the ages of 45-59 years who have comorbidities like cardiac ailments, diabetes, cancer, etc. Until most of the population is vaccinated and immune to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, precautions will need to be taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the community," the noted further stated.

The passengers coming from the UK, Middle East, South Africa, Brazil, and Europe are supposed to undergo 7-day quarantine at their own cost if they are travelling to Mumbai. However, the players entering Chennai will be required to submit an e-pass distributed by the Tamil Nadu government.

[Cricbuzz input]