RCB head coach Mike Hesson
The importance of players abiding by the rules of the being inside a bio-secure bubble was the first issue that Royal Challengers Banglore addressed in their first team meeting on Monday on arriving in Dubai. Taking charge after Virat Kohli's warning to his franchise members, head coach Mike Hesson said that any "wilful" breach of the protocol will be dealt with "seriously".
RCB had reached the UAE last week for IPL 2020 which has been moved out of India owing to COVID-19 reasons.
"We have a document the BCCI have written, which is basically part of your contract," said Hesson during a virtual meeting with the franchise members.
"If there's a breach of the bubble, if it's a wilful act, then that becomes a contractual issue between the player and RCB; it will be dealt with very seriously," Hesson told the players and support staff during a virtual team meeting."
If the violation of the protocol is "accidental", Hesson further addressed, then the the player will be removed from the team bubble for period of one week and will have "to repeat their [covid] tests before they're allowed into the bubble again."
"As you [Kohli] alluded to, if there's somebody who breaks this bubble, that we've worked incredibly hard to ascertain and put in place, it affects the whole tournament. It's not just RCB, it's actually the tournament, the TV rights. There will be strong consequences if players choose to do that. Every player from every team will need to sign a document which basically explains the consequences around that."
All IPL players will as of now stay inside their respective hotel rooms for the next six days, counting from the day of their arrival in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and undergo COVID-19 tests on days 1, 3 and 6 before being allowed to enter the tournament bio-bubble on the condition of returning negative in all the three tests.
IPL 2020 will begin on Sepetember 19 onwards.
