A couple of CSK franchise members and three members of the ground staff at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, venue of IPL matches on May 4 and 5, have tested positive…reports Asian Lite News
A big question mark on continuation of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was raised on Monday after two Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) players tested positive for Covid-19, forcing the KKR-Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) match to be postponed, even as similar news emerged from the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) camp.
A couple of CSK franchise members and three members of the ground staff at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, venue of IPL matches on May 4 and 5, have tested positive. However, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) officials insisted that at least Tuesday match between SunRisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians was on. Delhi is also scheduled to host a Rajasthan Royals-CSK match on Wednesday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday confirmed the positive results of KKR’s Varun Chakaravarthy and Sandeep Warrier, and that the match was being rescheduled. It, however, did not specify when and where the rescheduled game would be played.
“Unless there is something major, a player or a team member tests positive, the match will take place. We have no information about its postponement or cancellation,” said an official of one of the teams playing on Tuesday in Delhi.
Incidentally, the 60-match IPL reached its halfway mark on Monday, with the 30th match scheduled, between KKR and RCB, being postponed.
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Delhi and Ahmedabad, among the IPL venues, are in tight grip of the raging pandemic, with hundreds of people dying of the virus and thousands struggling in and outside hospitals for oxygen and medical aid. But the BCCI has so far insisted that the IPL would go on.
The KKR players were locked up in their rooms in Ahmedabad and didn’t go for practice on Monday, following the reports of positive tests from their camp. If their tests till Thursday (May 6) return negative results, they will be allowed to train on May 6 and 7. They will then be available for the May 8 match, provided that game takes place at all.
The BCCI said that the medical team is also “determining the close and casual contacts of the two positive cases during the 48 hours prior to collection of the sample that returned the positive test results”.
At Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium, everybody seemed on tenterhooks on Monday, the day the Delhi government sought Indian Army help to meet the Covid situation that is virtually got out of its hands.
DDCA officials said Tuesday’s match was on, so far they were concerned.
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