Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) South African trio of AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Chris Morris joined the team in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday for the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL). (More Cricket News)
RCB shared a video of the superstars arriving at the team hotel in Dubai and wrote: "And here it is RCB fans, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!"
The Virat Kohli-led outfit landed in the UAE on Friday. The skipper, who made his own arrangements to reach Dubai directly from Mumbai following all BCCI SOP, also posted a photo from the team hotel after touching down.
Advertisement
The same day, former champions Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians also reached the middle east country.
On Thursday, Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders became the first set of teams to arrive in the UAE.
Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals will land over the weekend.
The players are not allowed to venture out of their rooms during the six-day isolation period.
The players, who were already tested multiple times before departure, will now undergo a six-day isolation period with testing on day 1, 3 and 6. If they clear all the tests, they will be eligible to enter the tournament's bio-bubble and start training.
Advertisement
Sixty games will be played over 53 days across three venues -- Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. In 2014, UAE had hosted the IPL partially due to the general elections in India.
The postponement of the T20 World Cup in Australia created a window for the IPL, which was supposed to take place in March-May before the BCCI postponed it indefinitely due to the pandemic.
Check Royal Challengers Bangalore squad here:
Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Chris Morris, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shivam Dubey, Umesh Yadav, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Dale Steyn, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Isuru Udana, Devdutt Padikkal, Shahbaz Ahamad, Pavan Deshpande.
