Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal and all-rounder K Gowtham have also tested positive while on tour in Sri Lanka. They were amongst the group of eight players who had earlier been identified as close contacts of Krunal Pandya, who had tested positive on July 27, 2021.
This means that Chahal and Gowtham, along with Krunal will have to stay back in Colombo for time being before completing their quarantine and returning negative COVID Tests.
The other six players - Krunal's brother Hardik, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Deepak Chahar, and Ishan Kishan - are expected to leave for India later today. The rest of the Indian traveling contingent will return to India earlier in the day.
Though both Chahal and Gowtham, along with the other six players had tested negative on Thursday. But ESPNCricinfo reported that Chahal and Gowtham tested positive on Friday.
Krunal was moved to an isolation facility immediately after he tested positive in both the Rapid Antigen and RT-PCR tests on July 27, the remaining eight players were staying at the team hotel but separated from the rest of the touring party.
As per the Sri Lanka government protocols, anyone testing positive for the virus needs to isolate for at least ten days and then clear a fresh round of tests to be allowed to leave the country. Those identified as close contacts of the affected person must isolate for seven days and then clear the prescribed tests.
This development has now caused a hurdle for the pair of Shaw and Yadav, who were scheduled to fly out to England immediately after the Sri Lanka tour to link up with the India Test squad.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)
