The schedule of 13th edition of Indian Premier League will be released on Sunday, confirmed chairman Brijesh Patel. The cash-rich league is scheduled to start from September 19 in UAE. Last year finalists Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are expected to lock horns in the opening game, but the COVID-19 crisis in CSK might replace them with Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore.
"The schedule will be released tomorrow," Brijesh told ANI. The tournament will be played from September 19 to November 10 in the UAE across three venues -- Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.
It was only on day 3 of their arrival in Dubai did those 13 personnel test positive for coronavirus and hence the entire team was forced to go into an extended quarantine.
However, all members of the Chennai Super Kings contingent, except for the 13 who tested positive for COVID-19 early last week, have come out negative in the latest tests, the IPL team's CEO K S Viswanathan said on Tuesday. The 13 infected contingent members will be tested at the end of their quarantine period.
The BCCI has budgeted nearly Rs 10 crore for more than 20,000 COVID-19 tests to be conducted during the IPL.
While the eight franchises bore the cost of testing in India, the BCCI is picking up the tab for the RT-PCR tests which have been conducted from August 20 when the teams started landing in the UAE.
"We have engaged VPS Healthcare, a UAE based company to conduct the tests. While I can't put a number, it will be more than 20,000 tests which would include everyone. Each test would cost BCCI around 200 AED (Dirham) excluding taxes," a senior IPL official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
"So BCCI will be spending something in the tune of Rs 10 crore for the COVID tests. Around 75 healthcare workers who are part of the company are a part of the IPL testing process," the official said.
