Mumbai: Chennai Super Kings’ star all-rounder Suresh Raina believes the upcoming Indian Premier League, to be played in the UAE amid the COVID-19 pandemic, will pose a lot of new challenges for the players, and clarity of thought would be key for a player to succeed.
The IPL this year has been shifted to the UAE because of the pandemic and will be held in three venues — Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah — from September 19 to November 10 amid COVID-19 protocols laid down by the ICC and BCCI.
This IPL would be very interesting to see how the players are thinking, Raina said in a webinar after being named as the global brand ambassador for WTF Sports app.
‘You are playing in different circumstances and you have a lot of protocol from ICC and at the same time you are going to go through (COVID-19) tests every two-three weeks.’
According to BCCI’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the Indian players and support staff will have to return negative for COVID-19 at least five times before they start training in the UAE and subsequently will be tested every fifth day during the IPL.
So, I would say coming out from all those tests you need to be clear with your head on what you are going to do on the field because at the end of the day when you are playing a sport, you need to enjoy the game, Raina said.