Two teams in the Indian Premier League suffered setbacks as players and staff have tested positive for the coronavirus. While two cricketers of Kolkata Knight Riders are affected, three members of the Chennai Super Kings contingent have been laid low by the virus.
As a result, the Indian cricket board has postponed KKR’s game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Ahmedabad today (May 3, 2021).
“IPL reschedules KKR-RCB match slated for May 3, 2021 after 2 KKR players test positive. 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,” according to a statement from the Board for Control of Cricket in India.
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, the statement added.
Three members of the CSK squad — chief executive officer Kasi Viswanathan, bowling coach Laxman Balaji and a transport personnel — have tested positive for COVID-19, according to ESPNcricinfo. The rest of the squad, which is in Delhi, have tested negative, it added.
Five Delhi ground staff infected
Five ground staff at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Kotla, Delhi, too have been infected by the coronavirus, according to the Delhi and District Cricket Association. All five of them were on duty when the Rajasthan Royals played the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Sunday afternoon game.
“It’s confirmed that five DDCA ground staff tested COVID positive. They were on duty on the ground on the last IPL Match (RR vs SRH) at Kotla. Since they were on ground duty, there are chances that they must have come in contact with players and team staff,” InsideSport quoted a DDCA official as saying.
An earlier report said KKR’s Chakravarthy might have contracted the virus after leaving the biobubble to undergo a scan on his shoulder. The rest of the KKR squad have tested negative, but they have gone into isolation in the team hotel, India Today reported. KKR had suffered a scare before the start of the tournament when Nitish Rana had contracted COVID-19.
Match 30 of IPL 2021 between KKR and RCB will now be played at a later date, which is yet to be announced.
