IPL 2021: RCB's Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera land in UAE ahead of the second phase 

Dushmantha Chameera (L) with Wanindu Hasaranga. (Image source: RCB Twitter)

Sri Lankan cricketers Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera landed in the UAE on Wednesday (September 15) ahead of the impending second phase of this year's Indian Premier League (IPL 2021).

The two up-and-coming Sri Lankan stars will represent Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the UAE leg. The Bangalore-based franchise confirmed the duo's arrival through a recent social media post.

RCB welcomed their newest recruits to the gulf country ahead of their opening clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

They will now undergo a two-day quarentine before joining the rest of the squad for their practice sessions.

Players flying in from the Sri Lanka-South Africa series and the Caribbean Premier League have been granted a reduced quarentine period as part of the bubble-to-bubble transfer.

Both Hasaranga and Chameera were not part of the cash-rich league during the first half. However, their IPL careers got a new lease of life after RCB roped them in as replacement players for the remainder of the season last month.

RCB players to don a special blue jersey for their opening fixture against KKR.

Virat Kohli and co. will lock horns against the Kolkata Knight Riders on September 20 in Abu Dhabi, as per the IPL 2021 schedule. Through this move, they intend to pay tribute to the frontline workers who have been working tirelessly amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Notably, the color of the jersey has been selected to match that of the PPE kits. In a video shared by the team on their social media handles, the likes of AB de Villiers, Navdeep Saini, Harshal Patel and Devdutt Padikkal were seen talking about their new blue kit.

RCB squad for UAE leg of IPL 2021

Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, George Garton, Washington Sundar, Sachin Baby, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Daniel Christian, KS Bharat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Dushmantha Chameera, Harshal Patel, Pavan Deshpande, Tim David, Shahbaz Ahamad, Navdeep Saini, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kyle Jamieson, Glenn Maxwell and Rajat Patidar.