IPL 2020 franchises ready to quarantine foreign players if needed

The Indian Premier League franchises are ready to quarantine their foreign players for a period of 14 days if the travel advisories issued by the government calls for the same amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak But first they are waiting for the authorities to clear the ground for issuance of visa to them As of now the government has prohibited entry of people from specific countries and regions till March 31The government on Monday issued an advisory expanding compulsory quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days for passengers coming fromtransiting through UAE Qatar Oman and Kuwait It further prohibited travel of passengers from member countries of the European Union the European Free Trade Association Turkey and United Kingdom to India with effect from March 18On Tuesday the government further said that travel of passengers from Afghanistan Philippines Malaysia to India is prohibited with immediate effect These instructions are a temporary measure and shall be in force till March 31 and will be reviewed subsequentlySpeaking to IANS an official of one of the franchises said that the teams were ready for a scenario wherein foreign players will need to be quarantined for a 14day period once permitted to fly into the countryYes the fresh advisory calls for 14day quarantine for travel from some countries and if the stance remains the same post March 31 that shouldnt be an issue If we get a clearance from the government and visas are issued then quarantining the players shouldnt be a big deal In such a scenario we can fly them into the country in the first week of April and follow the process of 14day quarantineBut first the foreign players need to be given the visa and that is why we need to wait till March 31 to see what the government decides going forwardAn IPL official who was present in the conference call on Monday further said that while there was no decision made with regards to the fate of the tournament it was decided that meetings will happen every week and also that foreign players will need a 5day break before they can start playing matchesNo decision was made and to be honest the idea wasnt to take a call It was aimed more towards understanding the general scenario and how the coronavirus outbreak is impacting the world It was more about taking stock of the situation But one thing that we did discuss was that foreign players will need a 5day window to acclimatise once they arrive in IndiaBut before that we need to understand if and when the government will relax the travel advisory and foreign players will indeed be allowed to come in Unless the government issues fresh advisory it will be impossible to gauge when the foreign players will come in and when we can start the tournamentAt present we need to keep our fingers crossed and hope that the situation improves and the health and sports departments give the necessary goahead to organise the tournament with foreign players the official told IANSThe Sports Ministry on March 12 made it clear that all sporting events should be cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak And if it is unavoidable the events should be held behind closed doors so as to avoid mass gatherings The Delhi government went a step further and said that there would be no IPL matches in the national capital till March 31Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever