IPL 2021: No further COVID positive cases, no threat to tournament - BCCI

As soon as news emerged about two players Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier of the Kolkata Knight Riders KKR testing positive for COVID19 all hell broke loose on social media with calls of lsquocancel IPLrsquo trending on MondayA little later three nonplaying staff members of the Chennai Super Kings CSK were suspected of Coronavirus along with six groundsmen of the Arun Jaitley Stadium Ferozeshah Kotla in New DelhiHowever only CSK bowling coach L Balaji and the bus cleaner returned positive for COVID19 after the second test was conducted to rule out a false reportThe BCCI promptly decided to reschedule Mondayrsquos match between KKR and Royal Challengers Bangalore RCB which was to be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in AhmedabadThere are concerns though as Balaji was seen interacting with Mumbai Indians players after their last match at the Kotla on May 1 The focus however was on whether the BCCI would go ahead with the cashrich T20 tournament now that the raging Coronavirus breached their watertight IPL bubble The Board seemed to be in no mood to call off the tournament or even suspend it till everyone returns negativeSpeaking to midday a BCCI official said ldquoAs of now only one match has been rescheduled We are going ahead as per schedule for the time being If there are no further positive cases then there is no threat to the tournament We can safely go ahead as plannedrdquoConcerns before IPLBefore the IPL14 kicked off Delhi Capitalsrsquo Axar Patel had tested positive for COVID19 and was isolated accordingly Several Wankhede Stadium groundsmen also tested positive The concerns eased out as soon as the action began on April 9Mondayrsquos occurrences have again put a question mark on the IPL caravan which is currently in Delhi and Ahmedabad and will move to Kolkata and Bangalore for matches from May 9lsquoTravel is not an issuersquoWouldnrsquot it be wise to complete the tournament at the current venues to avoid further travel ldquoThe KKR players did not contract the virus while travelling So we are ensuring there is no breach of the bubble there We have made special arrangements on that front We are evaluating how this two KKR players testing positive happened We believe they went out for some scans and thatrsquos where they may have contracted it So we are seeing what we can do to avoid such a scenario againrdquo an official saidBCCIrsquos acting CEO Hemang Amin in an email to all franchises attached the media release on KKR players testing positive and stated ldquoIn the light of recent developments that have happened over last 24 hours please find below a media release that is being issued We will keep monitoring the situation and provide further details and updatesrdquoTeams taking onusOfficials of two teams who were spoken to by midday said there is no panic at the moment In fact teams have taken the onus on them to ensure the bubble remains intact right till the end Punjab Kings who are sixth on the points table ensured the same buses which they used for their matches in Mumbai are in Ahmedabad as wellldquoWe have the same set of drivers here with us who were with us in Mumbai They drove without any break to Ahmedabad We will take them to Bangalore as well but we will have new buses there So thatrsquos the level of planning we have done to ensure our bubble remains intactrdquo an official told midday A BCCI official said that no player has raised any concerns regarding the conduct of the IPL ldquoWe havenrsquot got any such requests from the players As of now everyonersquos aim is to complete the tournament in a safe mannerrdquo the official saidHowever it is understood that some foreign players were a bit edgy after the KKR players tested positive For BCCI the larger picture is to ensure the ICC T20 World Cup is held in India later this year ldquoIPL is the best way to convince the world that a multiteam event like the T20 World Cup is very much possible to hold even in a pandemicldquoBCCI will do everything possible to ensure the IPL is completed as per schedulerdquo said an Apex Council member of the BCCI