img source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
Uncertainty looms as IPL bio-bubbles burst
Trapped between public fury, rising cases, in-house panic, and a genuine fear of the Covid-19 virus, the Indian Premier League is in serious trouble. Should it get worse from here, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) will have to take an urgent and practical call on whether the tournament needs to continue or take a break for a few days. TOI has learnt that the BCCI has now approached the Maharashtra state government to ‘explore the possibility of shifting the remainder of the tournament to Mumbai. The board on Monday sent out a statement on two players from the KKR franchise being found positive. Soon after, three individuals from the CSK franchise, including bowling coach, Laxmipathy Balaji, are learnt to have also tested positive. Their rapid antigen tests were negative but Balaji returned positive in another round of RT-PCR tests. “Balaji was in the CSK dressing room with the rest of the team the other day. IPL SOPs say ‘15 minutes of being inside a closed room before testing positive should lead to immediate co-contact-tracing, In that case, will not the entire team have to go into quarantine?” said a franchise official. Right now, nobody in the BCCI has an answer to this. The very thought of an entire team quarantining right in the middle of the tournament is giving the IPL ecosystem a chill in the spine. (Source: Times of India
