Colombo: The second T20 game which was to be played Tuesday between India and Sri Lanka has been postponed by a day. This decision was raken after all-rounder Krunal Pandya tested positive for Covid-19. Now the match has been scheduled for Wednesday. The test results of Krunal Pandya arrived a few hours before the game was to begin Tuesday. The scheduled start of the match was 8.00pm.
Eight other members of the Indian squad have so far been identified as Pandya’s close contacts. They have been asked to isolate in their hotel rooms. “Most of these contacts are cricketers,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said Tuesday in a statement.
“The reports (of today’s tests) will come in the evening (around 6.00pm). If everyone is in the clear, we can have the match Wednesday. Maximum among the eight close contacts who are also in mandatory isolation are players,” Shah informed.
Not long after the news broke, a BCCI press statement confirmed that ‘the entire contingent is undergoing RT-PCR tests today (Tuesday) to ascertain any further outbreak in the squad’. The statement also said that Pandya’s case was identified ‘following the Rapid Antigen Tests conducted ahead of the match Tuesday morning’. Pandya complained of a sore throat Tuesday morning, after which the Indian medical staff asked him to take the test.
The BCCI or Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have not confirmed how long Pandya and the eight others will be isolation. However, a person privy to the discussions said that the length of time of isolation would be determined based on the strain of Covid-19 in question.
There are no reports of positive results among the Sri Lankans. They are scheduled to be tested next Wednesday morning.
Professor Arjuna de Silva oversees SLC’s bubble protocols for international tours. He has been quoted as saying by ‘ESPNcricinfo’ ‘it remained a mystery as to how Pandya could have contracted Covid-19. There have been no reports of the bubble being broken, nor any other significant irregularities’. De Silva also said that the series has been played behind closed doors. Both teams have also been operating out of a bio-secure bubble with their movements restricted to only the team hotel and the ground.
The India team are staying at hotel Taj Samudra. The entire hotel has been isolated for the team. Even the staff working in the hotel is essentially in the bubble and undergoes frequent testing. De Silva said that no one else, including staff, had tested positive so far.