Ahead of the ODI series against West Indies, Covid-19 hits the Indian camp. Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and standby player Navdeep Saini and three staff members of the senior India men’s cricket team have tested positive for COVID-19.
“Three players — Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan have tested positive. However there are multiple COVID positive cases among non-coaching administrative support staff. It could be between two to four people,” a BCCI official told PTI.
However, it is confirmed that captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and coach Rahul Dravid have all tested negative as of Wednesday. All those who tested negative will complete their mandatory isolation on Thursday. They will enter the bubble, if they test negative again on Thursday. Regarding this issue the selection committee has added opener Mayank Agarwal to the squad.
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has added Mayank Agarwal to India’s ODI squad after seven members of Team India tested positive for COVID-19 following three rounds of RT-PCR testing. The members were asked to report in Ahmedabad on January 31 2022, for the upcoming Paytm three-match ODI and T20I series against the West Indies. Every member was also asked to undergo an RT-PCR test at home before embarking on their journey to Ahmedabad, and the travel was undertaken only after testing negative,” the statement BCCI added.
“The BCCI Medical team is handling the positive cases and they will remain in isolation till complete recovery is attained,” the release further said while a board member mentioned that the series will go ahead as per the schedule and they already have a 25-member squad at their disposal including the net bowlers and more replacements will be announced shortly.
“As of now, the ODI series will go ahead as per schedule. We will get replacements. We have a 25-member squad including the net bowlers so we can also draft in a few players from there if needed. The selectors will announce replacements soon,” a Board official said