Covid-19 Scare in Indian Team; These 7 Team Members are Positive Ahead of ODI Series Against WI

Ahead of 3 Match ODI Series against West Indies 4 Indian Players and 3 Staff Members tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

Indian Cricket team has faced Covid-19 Outbreak ahead of upcoming 3-match ODI series against West Indies. As four players including openers Shikhar Dhawan & Ruturaj Gaikwad, Middle-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Stand-by bowler Navdeep Saini tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

Also, 3 staff members; fielding Coach T. Dilip, security liaison Officer B. Lokesh and the sports massage therapist Rajeev Kumar – all returned positive RT-PCR tests. While all the players had tested negative in the first round of tests conducted upon arrival, however, in the second round of testing on Wednesday a few have returned positive tests.

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While Dhawan and Saini’s tests were conducted on Monday, Gaikwad’s test came positive on Tuesday and Iyer tested positive in the latest round of testing on Wednesday. The selection committee has added opener Mayank Agarwal to the squad.

#UPDATE Batsmen Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, and fast bowler Navdeep Saini have tested positive for COVID-19. They will remain in isolation till complete recovery is attained: BCCI https://t.co/YqNdOCkxor
— ANI (@ANI) February 3, 2022

“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has added Mayank Agarwal to India’s ODI squad after seven members, including three players of Team India (Senior Men) tested positive for COVID-19 following three rounds of RT-PCR testing,” the BCCI said in a release.

The Rohit Sharma-led squad was scheduled to start their training on Thursday ahead of the first game, and will now undergo another round of testing on February 3 morning.

“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.