Bubble to Bubble transfer permitted by BCCI ahead of IPL 2021

Bubble to Bubble transfer permitted by BCCI ahead of IPL 2021

IPL 2021

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has permitted Bubble to Bubble transfers for the forthcoming IPL season. In an elaborate document listing out Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and bio-secure protocols, the BCCI has directed that players can directly enter a franchise Bubble from their national-team Bubbles.

More specifically, after the England series, the India and England players 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.

“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.

No Vaccination would be provided for the players

BCCI
BCCI

The BCCI has also made it clear that its officials and operations teams will not be part of any Bubble and as a consequence, the BCCI officials cannot interact in person with any player, team support staff, match management teams and broadcast crews. The owners, who want to be part of the Bubble must quarantine in their hotel room for seven days before entering it.

Since cricket resumed after the Covid-19 break, balls have been repeatedly sanitised, especially after it is touched by a member of the crowd in the stands. There were suggestions that the cricketers could be allowed to jump the queue and get themselves vaccinated but no such procedure is going to take place as of now.

Bubble integrity officers will be put into place with each franchise in order to ensure that the health of the bubble remains intact.

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