Covid-19 has started impacting the Indian Premier League (IPL). The game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore, scheduled to be played on Monday, has been postponed.
Varun Chakaravarthy and Sandeep Warrier from KKR 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.
"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," said a statement
The Medical Team is also determining the close and casual contacts of the two positive cases during the 48 hours before collection of the sample that returned the positive test results, it added.
Call for scrapping IPL
There have been calls for this year's IPL to be scrapped, but BCCI has not relented. Experts said that apart from commercial considerations, there are legal challenges if IPL is cancelled.
Five players, including Delhi Capitals' Ravichandran Ashwin, Royal Challengers Bangalore's Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson, Rajasthan Royal's Andrew Tye and Liam Livingstone, have already left the IPL 2021 due to concerns over rising Covid cases in India.