Xtra Time Web Desk: The new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) will allow bio bubble to bio bubble transfers. As per a report in Cricbuzz, the players and support staffs can directly enter a franchise Bubble from their national-team Bubbles.
The Indian and England players currently involved in the ongoing white ball series can directly enter their IPL Bubbles without having to undergo a quarantine period. In other circumstances, however, everyone – be it a player, owner, franchise management member, commentator, or a match official – must undergo seven days of quarantine.
“Players coming directly from the Bubble created for the 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),” the BCCI stated in a note seen by Cricbuzz.
“If chartered flights are used then all protocols for crew members must be followed. If the travel arrangements are to the satisfaction of the BCCI Chief Medical Officer then such players will directly enter the franchise team Bubble without the need to serve a quarantine period or undergo an RT-PCR test,” the note added.
There will be 12 bio bubbles for the upcoming IPL 2021 season which will include 8 bubbles for franchise teams, two bubbles for match officials and management and two for broadcast commentators and crews.
It is also learnt BCCI will appoint upto four security staff with each franchise who will be Bubble integrity managers. They will be part of the respective team Bubbles and travel with the teams for the entire duration of IPL 2021. Their job will be to report any Bio-secure Environment protocol breaches by members of the franchise team to the BCCI Chief Medical Officer
Furthermore, there will be no vaccination for players, support staffs involved in the cash rich league.