Reports | Ministry of External Affairs gives approval for IPL 2020 to go-ahead in UAE

After the well-awaited news on the schedule of the IPL, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday have finally given their clearance for the IPL 2020 to go ahead in the Middle East as per TOI reports. BCCI’s long-listed SOP has several clauses for the safety of the players, including the clause which states that the family members can’t get close to the players during training sessions and on match-days. 

Owing to the restriction, the three-time IPL winning franchise Chennai Super Kings have reportedly decided to travel to UAE for the initial leg of the tournament without their families. On top of that, due to the lack of commercial services, the franchisee will be assembling its players in Chennai before taking a chartered flight to Dubai. The players are set to be put in a five-star property near Burj Khalifa, including booking two-three floors of the hotel. 

"At least for the initial phase, the families won't be travelling with the players," a source close to the developments told TOI.

"No commercial flights are being allowed to fly out so CSK have to arrange for a chartered flight," said the source.

However, the franchise is set to face the wrath of the scheduling conflict with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and England’s limited-overs series against Australia, which would see as much as five of its stars missing out on the first week of IPL’s action.

The likes of Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner and Imran Tahir who are part of the CPL alongside Sam Curran and Josh Hazlewood who are part of England and Australia’s limited-overs setup would be the ones to miss out the first week’s action.