Some of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have expressed fears about the safety of the players’ families during the tournament, which is all set to be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) likely from September 19 to November 8.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will hand over the standard operating procedures (SOP) to all the eight franchises after the Governing Council meeting on August 2. The SOP will instruct the franchises how to maintain the bio-secure environment in the hotels, training facilities and while travelling.
However, a few franchise officials have raised concerns about the family members of the players. The official believed that it would be “criminal” to keep the players away from their loved ones for two months especially when they will have to maintain the least possible contact with the outside world.
“During normal times, the wives and girlfriends, at times families join the players during a specified time but this is a completely different scenario. If families travel, can they be confined to rooms without being able to move around normally?” an official said as quoted by PTI.
“There will be players who have kids aged between 3 to 5 and how do you keep them in a room for two months,” he added.
Meanwhile, the IPL Governing Council is likely to meet on August 2 to finalise the schedule of the tournament and other important arrangements to host the tournament in the UAE for the second time. The UAE had earlier staged the tournament in 2014.
Apart from the schedule, the governing council meeting will discuss the logistical issues including the standard operating procedures (SOP) to create quarantine facilities, bio-secured training facilities and the travelling arrangements of the players, match officials and others.