Abu Dhabi Cricket facilities undergo sci-fi transformation to accommodate IPL teams

The futuristic main stand at Zayed Cricket Stadium always has looked like something out of a science fiction epic. The arrival of the IPL has only enhanced that image. As part of the measures Abu Dhabi Cricket are undertaking to make their facilities coronavirus-secure, workers in full hazmat coveralls regularly tread the site. Armed with portable disinfection foggers with which they zap the nets, and all other touch points of the training facility, they could easily pass for extras from ET the Extra Terrestrial . The ground’s management talk about “air bridges”, and have everything partitioned into zones. Sometimes it feels more like a space odyssey than a cricket tournament. While six teams are vying for net availability up the coast road at the ICC Academy in Dubai, just two – Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders – are based in the capital. Defending IPL champions Mumbai arrived on a private jet with a tour party of 74 people, 55 of which are players. That does not even include some absent stars who make up their foreign contingent, who will arrive after their various engagements elsewhere around the globe. It does, though, account for a raft of net bowlers, who were brought with them from India and detailed to follow exactly the same quarantining procedures as the gilded stars of the first XI. Eighty days in the St Regis for such a huge tour party, with vast conference rooms commandeered for the purposes of the team, must not come cheap. Given their outlay, the franchises demand a high quality of service in return. Abu Dhabi Cricket are only too happy to oblige, setting aside 29,000 square metres of their training facilities, for three and a half hours at a time. When one team leaves, the area undergoes a deep clean before the next team are allowed entry. “The protection of the players and staff is paramount,” Matt Boucher, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Cricket, said. “There are 16 brand new world-class grass net surfaces here, which is an amazing proposition for us to offer both Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. “We’ve also taken the liberty to enclose a full-size AstroTurf football pitch for all their aerobic fitness training and fielding drills, and the ICC-accredited Tolerance Oval.” So secure is the site – and thanks to some government-level agreements – it counts as an extension of the quarantine zone of the team hotel. For that reason, the players were permitted to start training – once 265 negative tests (three in six days for each of the participants) were returned – on their eighth day of being in Abu Dhabi. “The whole air bridge facility is completely private and exclusive for the team usage,” Boucher said. “Nobody from outside the permitted team members is allowed inside Zone 1. “It is a strictly monitored and completely fenced off single-access quarantine facility. Only players and support staff of the practicing team are allowed inside that site at a certain time. “We’re extremely grateful to all the relevant parties at the Government of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Sports Council for allowing our Abu Dhabi hosted teams to use this amazing private practice facility.” The fixtures schedule for the IPL has still yet to be finalised. It has been speculated the delay centres on the logistics of travel between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, specifically the Covid-check area on the border at Ghantoot. However, it is understood the reason is the outbreak in the Chennai Super Kings team. Consideration is being made to delay their opening fixture, to take into account their later start to training in Dubai. Switching matches between emirates is actually likely to be more viable than at other major tournaments that have been staged here in the past. When the Pakistan Super League took place in the UAE between 2016 and 2019, seasons were segmented into blocks of days spent in either Dubai, Sharjah, or Abu Dhabi. The same went for the IPL when 20 matches of the 2014 season were played here. The reason for that was for broadcast facilities. For this season of IPL, the bio-security programme means only the teams themselves will be travelling. Broadcast teams will be based permanently in either Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, and will not interchange between the sites. The same goes for the teams of match officials. Outside broadcast vans will not be crossing borders between emirates. The only transfer of people will be the teams and their support staff.