CSK held a camp with their Indian contingent at the MA Chidambaram Stadium from August 15 to 20.
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Notably, CSK held a camp with their Indian contingent at the MA Chidambaram Stadium from August 15 to 20 while the squad departed for Dubai on August 21.
But after a fast bowler and 10-12 members of support staff tested COVID-19 positive, the BCCI has reportedly expressed its concerns over CSK’s training camp.
“CSK practised three days in Chennai out of the five days. Was there any tangible gain achieved from that camp?” a BCCI official told PTI.
CSK might have taken the necessary government permission before organising the camp, but the fact that the Chepauk stadium falls under a hotspot can’t be overlooked. It is pertinent to mention here that Tamil Nadu has recorded more than 4 lakh COVID-19 cases so far.
According to the report, BCCI officials have had a word with the CSK management regarding the camp.
The franchise is yet to issue a formal statement but a league source told PTI that the number of positive cases could be between 10 and 12.
“Yes, a right-arm medium fast bowler, who has recently played for India in white-ball cricket, along with a few staff members have tested positive for Covid-19. The number could be as high as 12,” the senior IPL source said on conditions of anonymity.
After their mandatory quarantine and COVID-19 tests, some IPL franchises including embarked on their first training session on Friday.
CSK were also supposed to begin their training on the same day but now have been forced to extend the quarantine period till September 1.
The source revealed that all COVID-19 positive results came during day 1, 3 and 6 of testing after the contingent’s arrival in Dubai.
“As far as we know, one of the senior-most officials of the CSK management, an official’s wife, and at least two members of their social media team are also Covid-19 positive. There are couple of net bowlers who have also tested positive,” he said.
As per the tournament SOP laid out by BCCI, all the infected individuals are mandated to undergo an additional 14-day quarantine. They can enter the bio-secure bubble only after returning negative in tests to be conducted after the extended isolation.
However, the biggest challenge will be tracing those who came in contact with these contingent members as it is understood that most of them contracted the virus in Chennai.
“If you see, they all had tested negative for Covid during the two RT-PCR tests conducted in Chennai ahead of their departure. Had they been positive, they wouldn’t have been able to board the flight in the first place,” the league source stated.
(With PTI inputs)