XtraTime Web Desk: All the eight franchises participating in the upcoming 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) in UAE has received a major setback as the Lankan, Australian and English cricketers are likely to miss the first week action. While England will host Australia in a series involving three ODIs and T20Is in September, Sri Lanka Cricket will be organizing their inaugural Lanka Premier League which gets underway from August 28. The final of the LPL is on September 20 while the final ODI between England and Australia is on September 16 at Old Trafford.
Mumbai Indians pacer Lasith Malinga and Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s new addition Isuru Udana, are both scheduled to play the Lankan Premier League (LPL). According to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), no Lankan player will be allowed to leave the tournament mid-way for IPL 2020 or any other tournament.
With the Lankan Premier League final slated for September 20, a day after the start of IPL 2020, both Malinga and Udana can only leave on or before September 20 until they organize a special permission from their board to leave the country before. Once they reach UAE, they have to undergo two mandatory COVID-19 tests. Once the results come negative, they will be allowed move out from quarantine.
The England & Australian cricketers are also expected to reach late for IPL 2020. The third and final ODI of the series is scheduled for September 16 at Old Trafford. The cricketers participating in the IPL 2020 will fly from London to Dubai either on the same day or the very next day. They will also have to follow the similar guidelines set for anyone entering the border.
This entire process will take 7-10 days before the England & Australian cricketers will be allowed to join their respective franchises to participate in the IPL 2020.
This means all the cricketers from Sri Lanka, Australia and England will surely miss the first week action of IPL 2020.