The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to do away with contact tracing devices for the UAE leg of the Indian Premier League, commencing on September 19. The Indian board has concluded that Bubble Integrity Officers will do the necessary contact tracing if any player tests positive for COVID-19 in UAE. Speaking to media, sources in the know of developments said it was a call taken considering how regularly feeding information into the Bluetooth devices can get cumbersome at times. Also, there were some cases of the device not functioning properly during the India leg of the league earlier this year.

"The BCCI has decided to do away with the idea of wearing contact tracing bands as not only is it sometimes difficult to feed information for sportspersons during the course of a tournament but also, we had a few instances earlier this year when the devices couldn't catch the movement of the players and the fact that they had left a certain location wasn't updated and players and support staff realised this much later."

"As a result, it has been decided that the Bubble Integrity Officers present with the teams will keep a track of the movements and act accordingly if there is a case that comes up during the course of the tournament. There will be 4 integrity officers with each team and will work in shifts to help with this," the source explained. All franchises will have to isolate for six days before being able to enter the bio-bubble. The board has decided to set up 14 bio-bubbles and out of these 14, eight would belong to franchises. Just like last year, the BCCI has given go-ahead for bubble-to-bubble transfer hence the players coming from the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), will be able to enter the IPL bubble straight away.

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