IPL: CRICKET IN THE TIME OF COVID
The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) gets under way in the UAE on September 19. The official schedule for the tournament had not been released at the time of going to press, but the very first match is likely to feature four-time champions Mumbai Indians and three-time winners Chennai Super Kings. The 53-day tournament will see matches played in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, with the final on November 10. The logistics of a tournament of this scale are pretty intimidating anyway, and playing it away, in the midst of a pandemic, increases the challenge exponentially. Not surprisingly, all the focus is on the so-called bio-secure bubble that is being built to minimise the risk of a Covid breach. The ‘bubble’ refers to the strict containment zones around the hotels, stadiums and transport to be used to ferry players, staff and organisers across the three match venues and two training venues in these three cities. Even with all the restrictions on their numbers, there will still be hundreds of players, coaches, support staff, umpires, ground staff and security and media personnel, among others, who will have to be quarantined and Covid-tested before being let into the containment zones, where they must remain for the entire duration of the IPL.
BUBBLE BUILDERS
A UK-based security solutions provider, Restrata, will be in charge of creating and managing the IPL bio-security bubble. The firm had earlier provided security services for the 2012 London Olympics, and most recently, handled bio-safety security arrangements for the two Test series England played at home against West Indies and Pakistan. Restrata reportedly pipped Tata Medical and Diagnostics to the contract, beating them both on price and experience.
GETTING ON FIELD
By August 23, all eight IPL teams had already arrived in Dubai. Players and support staff will be let into the ‘bubble’ only after completing a week-long quarantine, during which they will be Covidtested on days 1, 3 and 6. Once inside, they will not be allowed to leave the bubble—which will encompass parts of their hotels, transportation facilities and stadiums—for 80+ days, until the IPL is complete.
TRACK AND TRACE
A central feature of the biobubble is to make sure that participants—from players and coaches to ground staff, umpires, media personnel and others— do not breach the containment areas. All participants will likely be tagged with GPS-enabled ID cards/ bracelets, their movement monitored 24x7. Highlighting the importance of these arrangements, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli pointed out at a team meeting that a single player breaching security would not only compromise everyone’s safety but also be letting down teammates.
BOOKIES AT BAY
A welcome side effect of the bio-bubble is that it will limit opportunities for bookies, touts and related louts to get up to their usual tricks. With team hotels sealed off from the general public, there will be no opportunity for bookies to approach players—at least, in the physical world. It will be quite another ballgame, though, to try and secure players’ social media accounts, and ensure they do not receive (or respond to) illicit deal offers online.