Delhi Capitals have started their training after serving the mandatory six-day quarantine in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ahead of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League which is scheduled to be played there from September 19 to November 10.
DC had earlier said in a statement on Saturday that the team will be undertaking their first nets session from 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm IST. The team also posted a video of the beginning of the practice session in their Instagram handle.
“Good to be outside after a week. Everyone has come to the ground after five-six months,” said DC assistant coach Mohammad Kaif in the video.
“So (we will) take it easy. We will still maintain the intensity but we don’t want to push too much, that is the plan.”
The Indian players and the coaching staff of the Delhi franchise had already assembled in Mumbai earlier this week. And after all of them tested negative for COVID-19, the entire unit left for the UAE.
The 2020 season of the IPL will be played for 53 days across three venues in the UAE — Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai.
The final match will be played on a Tuesday, to make it the first-ever IPL to have its final on a weekday. The matches this season will also start 30 minutes before their original time of 4 PM and 8 PM.
The IPL 2020, which was scheduled to be played from March 29 this year, was earlier postponed to April 15 before it was suspended again due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mohammad Kaif, one of the members of Delhi’s coaching staff, had earlier suggested that their chances of winning the title seems better than ever given the key signings made this season.
“We are very excited about this season and our team has improved alot from the last season. We have a complete squad and have picked some experienced players in (Ravichandran) Ashwin, (Ajinkya) Rahane, Alex Carey and (Shimron) Hetmyer,” the former batsman had told IANS.
“We already had (Kagiso) Rabada and Ishant (Sharma); now we have Anrich Nortje as well. The new players make this side very balanced this year. We played well last year also, and that confidence will help the players this season.”