After a prolonged suspense amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to hold IPL 2020 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). With some strict protocols being issued by the organising authorities, players will have to cope with several new challenges apart from new playing conditions. Chennai Super Kings’ veteran all-rounder Suresh Raina believes that despite all the challenges teams will find it tough to compete with CSK this season.

The 33-year-old left-hand batsman said that pitches in the UAE are similar to CSK’s base Chennai.

Raina said with all the guidlines imposed in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, it is important for players to be in the right frame of mind.

“This IPL would be very interesting to see how the players are thinking. You are playing in different circumstances and you have a lot of protocol from ICC and at the same time you are going to go through (COVID-19) tests every two-three weeks,” news agency PTI quoted Raina, as saying during a webinar.

The middle-order batsman who has 5386 runs from 193 IPL games pointed out another advantage associated with IPL being held in the UAE. “The best thing in Dubai is that you don’t have logistical problems. It is 45 minutes from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. You go from there (Dubai) to Sharjah, it’s 40 mins,” he said.

The T20 tournament is scheduled to be held in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah from September 19 to November 10. It was originally scheduled to begin from March 29, but was postponed due to coronavirus outbreak in India and other parts of the world.