Team India on Wednesday (July 28) handed debut caps to as many as four cricketers in the second T20I against Sri Lanka after all-rounder Krunal Pandya returned COVID-19 positive.

While Krunal was separated from the Indian contingent on Tuesday (July 27), eight Indian team members who were in close contact with him didn’t feature in the second T20I and won’t appear in the final game as well.

Now, a report published in The Indian Express suggests that the eight Indian players had dined together a day before Krunal contracted COVID-19. Consequently, they were deemed close contacts by BCCI’s medical team.

After Krunal tested positive, eight players namely Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw, Hardik Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey, K Gowtham and Ishan Kishan were asked to isolate till Friday (July 30).

The result of Krunal’s COVID-19 test prompted the BCCI medical team to conduct RT-PCR tests of the entire squad and thankfully all of them returned negative.

The report also claims that the visiting Indian side is likely to take a chartered fight to Bangalore after the third and final T20I on Thursday (July 29).

On the other hand, the Indian board is also making arrangements for the two England- bound players – Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav – to join the Test squad in UK. Before that, both of them will have to present three negative RT-PCR tests.

Meanwhile, the BCCI is in contact with Sri Lanka Cricket and the medical team is keeping a close eye on Krunal’s health.

(Inputs from The Indian Express)