The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli reserved a discrete charter for himself to travel to Dubai for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in UAE.
On Friday, the RCB team departed for the UAE from Bengaluru, but skipper Kohli was not part of the squad flight. The Indian captain chose to fly from Mumbai by means of an exclusive charter aircraft.
Conferring to a report by Mirror, Kohli did not want to risk himself by travelling to Bengaluru to catch the squad flight.
“He had quarantined himself in Mumbai and also tested himself for Covid-19. So, he could not come to Bangalore. He flew alone by a charter flight from Mumbai,” the spokesperson has been quoted by the paper.
By late evening, Kohli had also arrived Dubai and the RCB squad posted his entrance image on its social media page. In the intervening time, the whole RCB team reached Dubai just a few hours before skipper Kohli landed in Dubai.
The side will be based out of the Waldorf hotel in Dubai for the tournament’s entire period. A devoted block of the hotel has been booked for the squad, conversed RCB chairman Sanjeev Churiwala.
“We wanted an exclusive facility in the centre so the players have short travel time (between Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah) and there is 100 per cent compliance of the bio-bubble,” Sanjeev said.
“We have booked the entire block which has 155 rooms with exclusive facilities like team rooms, gym and dining. All the hotel staff will also be tested to ensure more safety,” added Churiwala.
Bearing in mind that the family members also severely need to stick to to the tournament conventions, not many RCB players are travelling with their kids and companions this time.
“It is a personal choice of the players but as far as I know, most of the players are not travelling with families. If they do, they will strictly have to follow the BCCI SOP,” Churiwala added.
RCB squadron includes 40-member contingent for the approaching 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) encompassing 21 players, five net bowlers, two throw-down specialists and two personnel. Correspondingly involved in the list are sports psychologist Chaitanya Sridhar and team doctor Charles Minz who have been looking after players’ mental health since March.
