Covid in Indian cricket team: The Indian cricket team has become the latest victim of a team returning multiple positive COVID-19 cases.
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The Indian cricket team has coped a massive blow in the form of a COVID-19 outspread in their team hotel in Ahmedabad. An 18-member squad had reached Ahmedabad on January 31 to quarantine for three days before training for a three-match ODI series against West Indies.
Having said that, there have been reports of multiple players and members of the support staff returning positive COVID-19 tests on Wednesday. Yet to make an official announcement regarding the same, BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) will conduct another round of tests on Thursday morning before taking a final call on the matter.
It is not for the first time that Indian cricketers have contacted the virus. From Indian Premier League 2021 Phase 1 to India’s tour of Sri Lanka last year to South Africa tour last month, the virus has played spoilsport for Indian players in the past well.
International cricket aside, the recently concluded 11th season of the Big Bash League had suffered drastically due to dozens of positive COVID-19 cases across teams throughout its runtime.
Covid in Indian cricket team
If reports doing the rounds are to be believed, batters Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad and fast bowler Navdeep Saini (reserve player) have contacted the virus among players in Ahmedabad. Additionally, a few members of the support staff have also tested positive.
Having said that, an official confirmation from the BCCI with respect to the positive members is awaited. With the first ODI scheduled to be played from February 6, the aforementioned players are unlikely to take part as all positive patients are required to complete a seven-day isolation period.
Another option with the BCCI is to postpone the series by 3-4 days to ensure these players’ participation after recovery. The same would require some brainstorming as there’s already a lot of uncertainty around the fixtures of the succeeding Sri Lanka’s tour of India 2022.
It is worth mentioning that white-ball vice-captain Lokesh Rahul has already been rested for the first ODI. Assuming that the trio of Dhawan, Iyer and Gaikwad miss the first ODI, the team management would be highly likely to seeking batting replacements.
All-rounder Venkatesh Iyer and wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan, both of whom were part of the ODI squad on South Africa tour, should be front-runners to be called in for the first ODI.
