IPL 2020: Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins to be available for KKR’s first match, confirms CEO

Amid ongoing speculation about the availability of English and Australian cricketers right from the onset of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO Venky Mysore confirmed that the players would be able to take part in KKR’s first match on September 23.

The KKR management have negotiated with Abu Dhabi authorities to reduce the mandatory 14-day quarantine period to six days. This will mean that the players, who are landing on September 17, will be completing their self-isolation period on the day KKR play their first game.

“While they are still negotiating with the authorities, we are reconciled to the fact that we may have to quarantine our three players. They arrive on September 17, but our first game is on September 23, by which time they would have finished their (six-day) quarantine. So it’s worked out well, and it’s good for the tournament,” Mysore told ESPNcricinfo.

KKR has two Englishmen and one Aussie in their squad

England v Australia - 1st Vitality International Twenty20

England are currently hosting Australia in a bilateral series. England won the T20I series 2-1, while the three-match ODI series will begin today and end on September 16. KKR players involved in the tour are England’s Tom Banton, their captain Eoin Morgan and Australian vice-captain Pat Cummins.

“We told them, ‘they’re in a bio-secure bubble in the UK. What if we brought them on a sanitised charter flight and we took care of all the elements of immigration, testing, contactless stuff and everything to allow them to come right into a bubble here?’,” Mysore further added.

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For the record, Cummins became the most expensive overseas IPL player when KKR shelled out INR 15.5 crore for the fast bowler in the player auction last December. Both Morgan and Cummins are sure starters and will play integral roles in the Knights’ performance in IPL 2020.

KKR are the only franchise – comprising English and Aussie cricketers – that is based in Abu Dhabi, which, unlike the other Emirates, have imposed mandatory quarantine periods for people coming from overseas.