IPL 2021 suspended: 2 players, 1 coach contracted COVID-19 during air travel, says report- The BCCI on Tuesday suspended IPL 2021 indefinitely after a fresh spike of cases in CSK, KKR, DC and SRH camps. The tournament suspension has led to a loss of over Rs 2,000 crore. A week ago, the IPL chairman said that everything was safe, but now the bubble is breached. The main question that arises is what caused the IPL 2021 bubble to breach.
Air Travel was the biggest worry as IPL 2021 was scheduled to be staged across six venues. As per NDTV, a couple of players and team coach contracted the virus while travelling through the airport terminus. The teams were not allowed tarmac access from state governments. Thus, the players were at risk.
IPL 2021 suspended: 2 players, 1 coach contracted COVID-19 during air travel, says report
Also Read: IPL 2021 Suspended: 5 big mistakes BCCI made which forced them to postpone IPL
The report further claimed that the tracking device worn by players were not of the finest quality. The equipment purchased from a Chennai-based company failed to live up to the expectation. Thus, BCCI could only make assumptions on where the players could have contracted COVID-19.
There was a big question over testing and quarantine protocols which were key for the smooth conduct of the event. These include people who come in contact with the players. They were ground net bowlers, staff, hotel staff, catering service, DJs, drivers, etc. Multiple cities meant keeping these people in a bubble till the fixtures concluded at the venues.
IPL 2021 suspended: 2 players, 1 coach contracted COVID-19 during air travel, says report
It is notable that there was no air travel in Dubai and the management was more robust in the previous edition of IPL. Last year, the bio-bubble in UAE was managed by Restrata, a professional company to track devices and bio-secure solutions. In IPL 2021, the organizers decided to go local, leaving the matter on hospital vendors and testing labs. The latter was expected to replicate the process. Until last week, food delivery from outside was allowed.
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