The Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) slated to be played on Monday evening has been rescheduled for a later date.
“Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier were found to be positive in the third round of testing in the last four days. All other team members have tested negative for COVID-19,” the IPL said in an official statement. Both the players have isolated themselves from the rest of the squad. The Medical Team is in continuous touch with the duo and are monitoring their health. Meanwhile, the Kolkata Knight Riders have now moved towards a daily testing routine to identify any other possible cases and treat them at the earliest.
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.
The BCCI and the Kolkata Knight Riders prioritise the health and safety of everyone involved and all measures are being taken in that endeavour.
Earlier on Monday, speaking to ANI, a BCCI official had confirmed that there are cases in the KKR camp and the RCB camp isn’t too keen to take the field against them. “Varun and Sandeep tested positive and that made the RCB camp wary of the situation. The game is set to be postponed,” the official had said.
India registered a slight dip in COVID-19 cases as it registered 3,68,147 new coronavirus infections and 3,417 related deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the union health ministry on Monday morning. With this, the cumulative count of the cases has gone up to 1,99,25,604.
Before the start of the tournament, Delhi Capitals’ Axar Patel had tested positive for Covid-19. Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Nitish Rana also tested positive, but he also returned a negative test before the start of the tournament. Few groundstaff members at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai had also returned positive tests, but all the 10 IPL matches went smoothly in Mumbai.
With the second COVID-19 wave rampant across the country, there have been reports of some foreign players being wary of the situation and how they will return to their respective countries at the end of the 14th edition of the IPL. But IPL COO Hemang Amin has assured all players and support staff that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will ensure their smooth return at the end of the league.