CPL 2020 set to begin from August 18, will take place in Trinidad & Tobago

The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 is all set to become the first major cricket league to start amid the coronavirus pandemic and it is going to take place in Trinidad & Tobago, starting August 18. It will have a full season and feature overseas and Caribbean players with the standard higher than it has ever been with the likes of Rashid Khan, Chris Lynn, Carlos Brathwaite, Dwayne Bravo, Alex Hales and Kieron Pollard all set to take part.

The CPL 2020

"The CPL have worked with the Trinidad & Tobago Ministry of Health and the CPL's own board of medical advisors to create protocols which minimize risk of transmission of the COVID-19 virus to the population of Trinidad and in amongst those who will be traveling to Trinidad & Tobago from overseas," the organisers said in a statement.

The statement further added that all teams and officials will be housed in one hotel and everyone will be subject to strict quarantine protocols for the first two weeks they are in the country. "Everyone traveling from overseas will be tested for COVID-19, before departure and then again on arrival in Trinidad," it added.

Teams and officials will be put into "households" where social distancing will need to be in place. There will be smaller clusters within each household where these measures can be relaxed. However, if any member of this cluster display signs of COVID-19 at any time during the tournament, all members of that cluster will be expected to self-isolate for a period of 14 days from the time that a member of that cohort first shows symptoms.

All members of the CPL will be subjected to regular temperature checks and will be re-tested for the virus throughout their stay in Trinidad and again before departure.

Chris Gayle backs out of CPL 2020

Even though, the league will keep the passionate Caribbean cricket viewers on their feet and they will not be able able to see the power-hitter Christopher Henry Gayle in action this time around as he has backed out of the tournament citing personal reasons.

As per reports in ESPNCricinfo, the West Indian megastar has communicated regarding the same to St Lucia Zouks (the team that he was going to represent this season) on Monday. The destructive opening batsman was roped in by Zouks after he was released by his previous franchise Jamaica Tallawahs as he could not make his bat do the talking in the 2019 edition. He only managed to score 243 runs in 10 games. 

(With ANI Inputs)

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(Image Courtesy: CPL Twitter)