(Image source from: dnaindia.com)

BCCI is yet to officially make an announcement regarding this. The Yellow Army is likely to extend quarantine for another week in UAE.

In what comes as a blow to the Chennai Super Kings team ahead of IPL 2020, an Indian CSK cricketer along with 11 other support staff in the CSK camp team has tested positive for coronavirus on Friday.

With less than 4 weeks remaining for the Indian Premier League, the yellow army on Friday decided to extend the quarantine period for the team by one week in the United Arab Emirates.

The MS Dhoni led team has to take this decision after heeding to the number of positive cases in the CSK contingent today.

It is to be noted that the members of the CSK team had tested positive for coronavirus after reaching UAE.

A source told the Times of India that even when the football matches had started in Europe, few people had tested positive for COVID-19. Given the number of players around 100, catching coronavirus is an expected possibility.

The source also said that it is unlucky that CSK team had caught the virus despite the numerous precautions being taken by the team.

The Times of India report added that a total of 4 tests have been conducted to the CSK team after their arrival in UAE on August 21 and the results of the fourth test are yet to be known.

Sources have informed that a CSK pacer and 11 members of the support staff had tested COVID-19 positive and had already gone into isolation

No names have been announced so far as the BCCI is yet to make its official announcement of the news yet.

Keeping the seriousness of coronavirus in India, IPL this year has been shifted to UAE and the UAE government had issued strict protocols to the franchises of the IPL where two COVID-19 negative reports have to be submitted to the UAE officials upon arrival.

After arrival in UAE, every IPL franchise is asked to stay in a bio security bubble. COVID-19 tests were conducted on day 1, day 3 and day 5 as well.

This is not the first case of COVID-19 that an IPL player has caught.

During the practice matches in India recently, Rajasthan Royal’s fielding coach Dishant Yagnik had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

All the eight franchises have been staying at different hotels post their arrival in UAE.

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s captain Virat Kohli said that he expects every team member to be on same page when it comes to following the COVID-19 norms as one mistake by a team member could literally spoil the whole match.

By Gayatri Yellayi