In what can be called controversial, Australia women’s all-rounder Tahlia McGrath was allowed to play in the Commonwealth Games (CWG 2022) gold medal match against India on August 7, 2022, despite testing positive test for Covid-19.
McGrath did not line up with her teammates during the playing of the national anthems and was seen sitting by herself in the stands wearing a face mask as it was reported that she was showing mild symptoms of illness, while the other Australian players sat in their dugout.
However, she did come out to bat at no.4 and made 2 runs in 4 balls before getting out to Deepti Sharma.
Commonwealth Games Australia confirmed the news in a statement during play on Sunday, saying that they had consulted with a tournament expert team and match officials before McGrath was permitted to take part.
The statement said: "McGrath presented to team management with mild symptoms on Sunday and subsequently returned the positive test. She was named in the starting XI at the toss and the International Cricket Council (ICC) approved her participation in the final.
Cricket Australia medical staff have implemented a range of comprehensive protocols which will be observed throughout the game and for post-match activity, to minimise the risk of transmission to all players and officials."
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This caused a huge storm on Twitter as cricket fans questioned how a Covid-positive cricketer was allowed to play a match putting others in danger as McGrath came out to bat without a mask and was seen mingling with other players as well.
The fans on Twitter were not happy with this decision as they saw it as biased against the Indian team and didn’t keep from sharing their sentiments on the issue.
Here are some of them:
