Kolkata Knight Rider's Jamaican star Andre Russell on his way to India for IPL 2021. Image: Instagram

Xtra Time Web Desk: It's that time of the year again, as the players of different franchises have started joining the respective base camps. The international cricketers have also started arriving in India for the 14th edition of the cash rich league which will get underway from April 09.

The Kolkata Knight Riders players including Dinesh Karthik, Varun Chakaravarthy, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Sandeep Warrier, Vaibhav Arora and support staff including assistant coach Abhishek Nayar and assistant bowling coach Omkar Salvi were among the first set of people to reach Mumbai for the KKR camp. Overseas players Sunil Narine and Andre Russell are on their way to India and are expected to join soon.

As per BCCI's guidelines, all players, support staff and management entering the bubble need to undergo a seven-day quarantine in their hotel rooms. Every individual will be tested multiple times during this period, and upon returning the necessary negative results, will be allowed to come out of their rooms and commence outdoor training and practice session.

The testing will continue as per BCCI's guidelines throughout the tournament, similar to how it was conducted last season in the UAE.
For those players involved in the upcoming India-England ODI series - Eoin Morgan, Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav and Prasidh Krishna - the BCCI has made a provision allowing them a bubble-to-bubble transfer without having to serve a quarantine again.
"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 following criteria," read the guidelines.

"After the conclusion of the India vs. England series, the players are moved directly to the franchise team hotel either in the team bus or on a chartered flight. If chartered flights are used then all protocols for crew members mentioned in Appendix 7 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."
Knight Rider’s will begin their IPL 2021 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 11 in Chennai.