IPL 2021, which was suspended in May owing to a COVID-19 outbreak in its bubble, will resume in the UAE from September 19.
Delhi Capitals’ batsman Shikhar Dhawan, who is currently the highest run-getter in the IPL 2021 season with 380 runs in 8 matches, is excited to play the remainder of the season in the UAE later this month.
“It’s great to be back. There’s a great environment within the team. All the boys are working very hard and I am looking forward to the IPL season. I am very excited to play the upcoming matches,” Dhawan was quoted as saying in a statement released.
Dhawan, who has scored 3 fifties in the IPL 2021 season so far, said that it’s important for the team to start performing well from the first match itself. “It’s very important to start on a high note. We need to do well from the first match itself and therefore we are working very hard for our first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. We have to bring our hard work into effect during matches and produce great results.”
The 35-year-old added that the Delhi Capitals squad is even more stronger for the second half of the season with batsman Shreyas Iyer returning to the side.
“We were in a certain flow in the first half of the season and then that flow was broken once the tournament was suspended. So we have to rebuild our energy and get back on the flow we were in. The good thing is that our team is well balanced and Shreyas Iyer is back in the side as well, so our team is even stronger now,” said Dhawan.
When asked about getting acclimatized to the conditions in the UAE, the opening batsman said, “We’ll beat the heat as well. It takes some time to get used to the humidity here since we were indoors for a while. But we’ve been doing this for so many years so we’ll definitely beat the heat.”
Delhi Capitals players arrive in Dubai
The Delhi Capitals players who were part of the Indian squad for the Test series against England landed in Dubai safely on Sunday for the second half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
The players, including Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw & Umesh Yadav, underwent Covid-19 tests upon arrival in Dubai.
The players will be serving a 6 day hard quarantine, as per IPL protocols, during which they will be tested thrice.
Thereafter, the players will join the rest of the Delhi Capitals squad, who are already part of the bio-bubble.
Delhi Capitals finished runners-up in the previous edition of the league last year, losing to Mumbai Indians in the summit showdown.
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