Royal Challengers Bangalore got a big boost on Friday as they were joined by South African superstars AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Chris Morris in Dubai ahead of IPL 2020. The rest of the squad had reached the city earlier on Friday.
RCB, who are yet to win the IPL title, left for Dubai on a chartered flight from India with all the Indian players, support staff and franchise officials. With the South African trio reaching on Saturday, the team is all but complete now with just the Australian and English players yet to join the squad.
“I’m very excited, very happy to be here. The travelling was a bit different to normal but we made it here, I’m with my South African friends (Steyn and Morris) and we are very happy to be back in the RCB family.
“I’m looking forward to my COVID test, get settled unpack my bags… Get a feel for what we are in for this year. I’m also looking forward to get to know all the new players, there’s a whole new feel to the side,” de Villiers said.
“It’s been quite a while that we played the game so yeah very excited to get going, little bit nervous too to be honest,” Morris said.
“It’s going to be interesting playing in the heat, we got here (Dubai) 3 in the morning and it was steaming outside,” Steyn said.
RCB will be based in Dubai for the next few months with the IPL beginning from September 19. The franchise had posted pictures from inside their chartered flight to Dubai on Friday.
Players will be in isolation for 6 days after they reach the UAE. All players, domestic and overseas, will have to undergo 5 tests before entering the biosecure bubble, the BCCI had said in its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document.
