New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni has tested negative for COVID-19. Members of CSKteam will be arriving here today for a week long training ahead of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be held in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah next month.
CSK CEO K Viswanathan said most of the players would arrive here by Friday evening or in the night.
All the players would be subjected to three tests and only if they returned negative for coronavirus, they would be allowed to fly to Dubai on August 21.
The players would be allowed to land in Chennai only if they tested negative for the virus.
‘The players will be training from August 15 to 21. They will leave for Dubai on August 21’, Viswanathan said.
He said the team members would practice at the historic M A Chidambaram stadium and entry to public and the media was barred.
There would be no any media interaction during the training, he said. Asked whether there would be any briefing before the team leaves for Dubai, it would be known only after consulting the team management. The team led by Dhoni had a brief week-long training when the tournament was scheduled to commence in the last week of March, but they had to leave the city
in view of the lockdown introduced to prevent control and spread of coronavirus.
The IPL was subequently deferred and the BCCI said it could not be held in India due to the pandemic. After analysing various options, it was decided to
hold the event in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) received
the formal approval to stage the 2020 edition in the UAE.
The team would be landing early in Dubai to ensure that 14-day quarantine norms were followed before the matches
commence on September 19. The final would be held in Dubai on November 10. CSK, which had finished runner-up on five occasions, has an unique record of qualifying for the play offs in all the editions.