Players Could Have Picked up the Virus at Airport, Says Report
Atherton Thinks IPL Cannot Resume in 2021: In an interview to Sky Sports, the former England captain said, “I just don’t see where the gap (in the schedule) is. India come to England for five Test matches in the summer — and that ends around mid-September. Then the T20 World Cup, which is supposed to be in India – but who knows, they may have to move that tournament to the UAE — takes place in mid-October,” Atherton told Sky Sports. Read Full Story Here
Indian Test Team Announcement Soon: With IPL postponed and strict coronavirus restrictions, Indian cricketers may leave for the England tour earlier than expected to meet the quarantine requirements and complete other formalities. BCCI may also announce a jumbo squad soon since they will have to obtain clearnces from the UK government. India are to face New Zealand in the final of the ICC World Test Championship followed by a five-match Test series vs England.
Meanwhile, reports are emerging that the BCCI is quite positive that the ICC Men's T20 World Cup will not be shifted ou of India and will go ahead as originally planned. News agency ANI quoted an unnamed BCCI official as saying, “We are confident that the situation will improve in the coming days and the World Cup would go ahead in India as planned,” the official said. “We have zeroed in on nine venues and preparations are on and considering that we have quite a few more venues across the country, we can prepare back up venues within the country itself so that we do not burden the health infrastructure for a particular state or another in the eventuality that the situation has not returned to normal by the time of the showpiece event.”
Surinder Khanna Criticises BCCI: Former India wicketkeeper Surinder Khanna has come down heavily on BCCI and IPL for not cancelling the season earlier and not doing enough in the fight against coronavirus pandemic. Khanna told The Times of India, "The IPL should have been called much earlier, and even the franchises should have made that clear. Are they only bothered with profits, and not concerned with the lives and unlimited misery of the people?. I saw in the UAE last year how wonderfully the bio-bubble created there functioned. I was out of the bubble, but was tested repeatedly, and felt safe. Everyone, from the top to bottom, was following the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to the T. This is why we had no positive cases when the tournament began."
Slater isn't holding back
Michael Slater Slams Australia PM: Cricketer-turned-commentator Michael Slater continues to criticise Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison. In his latest tweet, the former Australia batter who was in India for IPL 2021, has asked Morrison to take his private jet and see the dead bodies on the streets. "Amazing to smoke out the PM on a matter that is a human crisis. The panic, the fear of every Australian in India is real!! How about you take your private jet and come and witness dead bodies on the street!" he wrote.
England Cricketers Start Arriving Home: Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali and Jason Roy are among eight England stars who have reached home on Wednesday morning after catching a flight to Heathrow airport.They will start quarantining for 10 days now since India has been put in a red-zone by their governement.
Virat Kohli Returns Home: The cricketers have started reaching their homes with Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Kohli pictured near his home on Wednesday morning. He is expected to join his wife Anushka Sharma's COVID-19 support movement and the details of how everyone can join their cause will be made public soon.
BCCI did its best: Arun Dhumal - While BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal concedes that the board and members for the IPL governing council not prepared to tackle the second wave of the pandemic that is still ravaging the country, he also feels that the board did the best it could and the criticism of organising the IPL in the middle of the pandemic is uncalled for. There are people who are experts in criticising. That is their expertise," Dhumal told The Indian Express. "We believe in doing the best we can. It’s a hallmark of BCCI and we tried our best. We don’t go by people’s criticism. We gave it our best shot."
How did the Virus travel? - As per TOI, Varun Chakravarthy, who, according to the official statement had gone to a hospital in Ahmadabad for shoulder scans, had actually complained for abdominal inflammation and sought treatment. After the visit Chakravarthy had his meal besides Sandeep Warrier, the second person infected in the KKR camp. Whil Ahmedabad, both KKR and DC had their practice sessions at the same time at the Narendra Modi Stadium and Warrier had reportedly got in contact with Amit Mishra. Chakravarthy did not attend the session after being unwell and went into isolation. However, since the GPS system provided to the players by the franchises proved to be faulty, the BCCI and the franchises arae manually determining contact tracing
IPL 2021 Suspended Live Updates: Ten minutes was all it took for BCCI to pull the plug on IPL 2021. Secretary Jay Shah was not in favour to put players’ lives in jeopardy and told the members that they might have to suspend it indefinitely. This and some stunning details of an emergency IPL Governing Council meeting has emerged. “Frankly, things started unravelling once the positive cases emerged within the bio-bubble. We don’t know how many players, coaches and support staff will test positive in the next few days. The secure bio-bubble no longer existed and everyone was worried. There was no other option. We could not continue with the tournament,” a top BCCI official, who was part of the meeting, told The Indian Express.
Nasser Hussain in Daily Mail: "There was no option other than to call off the Indian Premier League. Not after the bio-secure bubbles had been breached in so many places. Enough was enough. This has become far bigger than a game of cricket. The players are not stupid nor insensitive. They would have been fully aware of what has been going on in India. They would have seen on their TVs people pleading for hospital beds and oxygen. They would have seen unused ambulances waiting outside cricket grounds and wondered whether it was right for them to carry on playing. And they would have been uncomfortable.. It has been unedifying at times watching this tournament when people are dying just up the road from there. I won't criticise the players, but it had to be called off
IPL 2021 Suspended Live Updates: The ban on travellers from India by Australia had added “anxiety” for its cricketers after the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) suspension, Australia vice captain Pat Cummins said, as players isolated in the COVID-ravaged Asian nation on Wednesday. The Australian government has barred its own citizens from returning home within 14 days of being in India on pain of fines and jail, leaving dozens of its IPL players, coaches and officials stranded. Australia fast bowler Cummins is isolating in an Ahmedabad hotel after two of his Kolkata Knight Riders team mates contracted COVID-19 before organisers pulled the plug on the tournament on Tuesday.
IPL 2021 Suspended Live Updates: Chennai Super Kings batting coach Michael Hussey has tested positive for COVID-19. According to ANI, the Australian will be tested again, with the franchise hoping that the earlier result was a false positive. CSK bowling coach L Balaji had earlier tested positive for the virus, along with a member of the travel staff. The CSK team is currently in Delhi. The IPL was on Monday suspended after multiple cases within the bubble. ANI quoted a source saying that the Indian players from CSK have started returning home after the tournament’s suspension. The overseas players, meanwhile, are coordinating with BCCI for their travel back home.
The four teams not affected by the Covid-19 positive cases in their camps have been given the green signal to disperse and have already begun leaving their respective bio-bubbles after the Indian Premier League (IPL) was called off following positive cases in four of the eight teams. While the Rajasthan Royals (RR) players and staff members have already begun leaving the bio-bubble in Delhi, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will leave their bio-bubble in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Punjab Kings (PBKS) members too will start leaving their bio-bubble from tomorrow and day after. Some of the franchises, like Punjab, have made elaborate arrangements, booking different chartered flights for different sectors.
Delhi Capitals legspinner Amit Mishra has tested positive for COVID-19, the franchise confirmed on Tuesday night. “Delhi Capitals leg spinner Amit Mishra has tested positive for COVID-19. He has been moved to a designated medical care facility, as per BCCI & IPL guidelines. The Delhi Capitals medical team is in constant touch with Mishra, and ensuring his safety and well-being. We wish him a speedy recovery,” the franchise said in a statement.
Players Could Have Picked up the Virus at Airport, Says Report: Well, IPL 2021 stands suspended indefinitely and the reason behind this a possible breach of bio-bubble. Now the question is where did the breach actually took place? Or where did the players contract the virus despite a watertight bubble and protocols in place. Well, it is the airport terminals. Unlike 2020 where the players traveled by bus, this time several teams had to fly out to different places by air. In that case they had to check in at the airport terminals and possibly got infected, a report from NDTV concludes. The report claims that the teams have demanded tarmac access but it was denied by the state governments. “NDTV has learned two players and one team coach contracted COVID-19 while travelling through the airport terminus. Teams had demanded tarmac access from state governments, which was denied, thus risking the players. In UAE, there was no air travel,” it says.
With a number of Kiwi players now stuck in India, NZ Cricket players body have their task cut out. They are facing a logistical nightmare as they try their very best to airlift its players ASAP. A number of cricketers including team captain Kane Williamson are now stranded in different parts of the country after positive cases of Covid-19 were found inside the IPL bubble and led to subsequent cancellation of the league.
IPL Suspended Covid-19 Crisis Live Updates: Chennai Super Kings batting coach Michael Hussey has tested positive for COVID-19. According to ANI, the Australian will be tested again, with the franchise hoping that the earlier result was a false positive. CSK bowling coach L Balaji had earlier tested positive for the virus, along with a member of the travel staff. The CSK team is currently in Delhi.
The IPL was on Monday suspended after multiple cases within the bubble.
ANI quoted a source saying that the Indian players from CSK have started returning home after the tournament’s suspension. The overseas players, meanwhile, are coordinating with BCCI for their travel back home.
CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan had returned positive test on Sunday morning. However, he returned negative tests by evening, confirming that the earlier test was a false positive.
Unlike 2020 where the players traveled by bus, this time several teams had to fly out to different places by air. In that case they had to check in at the airport terminals and possibly got infected, a report from NDTV concludes. The report claims that the teams have demanded tarmac access but it was denied by the state governments.
“NDTV has learned two players and one team coach contracted COVID-19 while travelling through the airport terminus. Teams had demanded tarmac access from state governments, which was denied, thus risking the players. In UAE, there was no air travel,” it says.
With a number of Kiwi players now stuck in India, NZ Cricket players body have their task cut out. They are facing a logistical nightmare as they try their very best to airlift its players ASAP. A number of cricketers including team captain Kane Williamson are now stranded in different parts of the country after positive cases of Covid-19 were found inside the IPL bubble and led to subsequent cancellation of the league.
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