On Saturday, the day after England’s fifth Test against India was cancelled due to concerns over positive COVID-19 cases, the Mumbai Indians were reported by ESPN Cricinfo to have flown out Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav on a chartered flight to Abu Dhabi from the India camp in Manchester ahead of the resumption of the IPL.
Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj, of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, will follow on flights later on Saturday. They will have to go through six days of the IPL’s regulation quarantine before taking an active part. It is reported that the rest of the players from both camps will be on a commercial flight to their Abu Dhabi hotels, where they will also quarantine for six days, later on Saturday.
Many of the Indian players will be joined by their families on their flights, for whom they had great concerns were they to take the field for the final Test of the England series on Friday. The biggest worry was the positive PCR test of India’s physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar, with whom many of the players had inevitably been in very close contact.