Chennai Super Kings have decided not to play Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday after 3 members tested Covid-19 positive. It is the second match to be rescheduled after Monday’s game between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders was also postponed after the KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy and seam bowler Sandeep Warrier tested positive for Covid-19.
One of the Chennai Super Kings officials has told Indian Express that the franchise will be undergoing 6-day quarantine and have informed BCCI that they can’t play the match against Rajasthan Royals. Due to the current scenario, BCCI has decided to postpone the Wednesday clash, reported PTI.
Chennai Super Kings Can’t Play Next Game Against Rajasthan Royals As Per Covid Protocols Of 6 Day Quarantine
Kasi Viswanathan, the Chennai Super Kings’ chief executive officer, told ESPNcricinfo that the franchise had written to the IPL on Monday informing them that the entire Chennai Super Kings contingent was isolating immediately after it emerged two people, including bowling coach Laxmipathy Balaji, had tested positive for Covid-19 after yesterday’s round of tests.
Incidentally, Kasi Viswanathan was originally part of the three people to test positive in the tests conducted on May 2, which was a day after the Super Kings lost a last-ball thriller to defending champions Mumbai Indians in Delhi. Then, yesterday’s round of follow-up testing cleared Kasi Viswanathan, but Laxmipathy Balaji and the cleaner of the team’s bus tested positive for the second time in two days.
“The coach is asymptomatic. However, as per the BCCI’s Covid protocols, everybody who has come in contact with him will have to undergo a six-day quarantine. We can’t play our next game (against Rajasthan Royals). The BCCI knows about the testing protocols and how many tests need to become negative before an all-clear is given.
“We have communicated it to the BCCI. They will have to reschedule the game between CSK and Rajasthan Royals,” a Chennai Super Kings official told The Indian Express.
This means not only Chennai Super Kings game against Rajasthan Royals will be postponed but also their game against Sunrisers Hyderabad will be under threat.
CSK is supposed to play SRH on May 7th. According to the report by the paper, CSK informed the BCCI that they could step back on the field only once all players who came in contact with the two people who tested positive cleared three tests over a six-day period, as per Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the IPL.
Chennai Super Kings Entire Team Should Go Into Quarantine: An Overseas Cricketer
It is worth noting that currently, Kolkata Knight Riders are also under quarantine and so is the Delhi Capitals squad. All these developments are making the continuation of IPL very difficult.
Problems for the IPL 2021 & BCCI are increasing leaps and bounds every minute. Sources have reliably learned that foreign players of one of the leading IPL franchises have told the management that they want to quit amid a surge in the Covid-19 cases in India. The concerned franchise has informed BCCI about the decision of the foreign players.
“Most of our foreign players now doesn’t want to continue. They don’t feel safe anymore. We have assured them we will take care of them and if required will also take care of their travel out of India. Without the availability of these players, how we can continue,” said the franchise official.
“We are extremely worried now, situation is not normal anymore. We are also concerned about Balaji’s positive case. Why BCCI is not quarantining the entire team, Balaji was their in the dugout and in the dressing room with the entire CSK team. The entire team should go into quarantine, its getting difficult to continue like this,” said one of the overseas player.
Tuesday’s match between Mumbai and the Sunrisers Hyderabad is set to run as per schedule. There were questions about whether the match should go-ahead for two primary reasons. First, Mumbai had played the Chennai Super Kings on Saturday with Laxmipathy Balaji in the dugout. Although all members of the Mumbai franchise were subsequently tested, there was lingering concern whether they, too, should have isolated.
The second reason was some members of the ground staff at the Arun Jaitley Stadium had tested positive. The Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rohan Jaitley confirmed there was no positive case among the group of staff members that had been present over last weekend’s matches. Mumbai and the Sunrisers did not train at the venue on Monday.