The Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals became the latest teams to travel to United Arab Emirates (UAE) to participate in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they flew to Dubai late on Thursday.
Taking to their official Twitter hande, the KKR franchise posted pictures of their players and staff at Mumbai the airport before they boarded their flight to Dubai.
Kuldeep Yadav and Shubhman Gill were also spotted. However, captain Dinesh Karthik was not seen among the groups of masked players whose pictures were shared on the social media by the Kolkata-based IPL team.
The Delhi Capitals squad led by their captain Shreyas Iyer also left for the UAE from Mumbai. The franchise said that the squad and support staff members reached Mumbai in batches before leaving for the UAE.
“There is no doubt that it will be a challenging trip for everyone involved. But like everyone else, I’ve spent these last few months focusing on my physical and mental health, and taking care of my family,” said batsman Ajinkya Rahane as quoted by IANS.
“So the time I’ve managed to spend with them has put me in a positive frame of mind. However, this IPL will be a very different experience for all of us, and we need to make sure that we are all very positive when we hit the ground running. The key is to take one step at a time,” the Indian Test team vice captain added.
“We have spent the past 4-5 months dealing with this pandemic, so everyone is aware of all the do’s and don’ts. We all have been preparing mentally to live and play under such circumstances, and taking all necessary precautions for our safety and well-being,” said Prithvi Shaw.
“All of us at Delhi Capitals play together as a team, and approach everything as one unit. We know people have a lot of expectations from us, but our focus will be on making the most of the training sessions we get in the UAE, and re-creating that fantastic team environment which made us so successful last year. We also have the chance to gel with the new players and then set our sights on the IPL season,” he added.
Earlier on the same day, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals had become the first teams to fly out to UAE where the 13th edition of the IPL will be played from September 19 to November 10.
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.