The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has suffered a big blow six days before the start of the IPL 2021. Multiple people involved with the tournament have returning COVID-19 positive over the last few days.
Delhi Capitals (DC) all-rounder Axar Patel has tested positive along with 10 groundsmen at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium and seven members from the BCCI’s IPL organizing team. A member of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) content team too has tested positive and subsequently been put under isolation.
“Axar Patel has tested positive for COVID-19. He had checked into the team hotel in Mumbai on March 28, 2021, with a negative report. His report from the second COVID test came positive,” Delhi Capitals said in a statement.
“He is currently in isolation at a designated medical care facility. The Delhi Capitals medical team is in constant touch with Axar and ensuring his safety and well-being. We wish him a speedy recovery,” it added.
Axar is the second player after Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) Nitish Rana to test positive since the teams started checking into their hotels in Mumbai and Chennai. However, there is positive news for Rana as he recently attended his team’s training session after an extended 12-day quarantine.
“I first got tested because it’s compulsory for an entry into Mumbai, so I did it, and I got a negative result. Then I flew into Mumbai and came straight to the hotel. The day I came, I did my usual workouts inside the room,” Rana said in the video. “In Mumbai, after the first day (Day 2) of quarantine, I got tested again. I didn’t have any symptoms. It wasn’t like I was feeling any different for three days or so.
“Obviously wasn’t expecting the tests to come positive. I had taken all sorts of precautions. But despite that, I contracted Covid. The protocols that I had to follow, the BCCI guidelines, or the things that my doctors had told me to do, I followed each and everything.
“On the 11th day (of quarantine), I got tested yet again, and I got a negative report. And on the 12th day [Friday] I got tested again, and I got a negative again.”
Nitish Rana joined his teammates last evening, after two consecutive negative results for Covid-19 ?
Having just beaten the virus, he urged everyone to stay safe and take all necessary precautions against Corona virus.@NitishRana_27 #KKRHaiTaiyaarhttps://t.co/G6aVZigXQT
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 3, 2021