India had suffered a major setback four days before the India-West Indies ODI series, after seven members of their squad, including four players, tested positive in the Covid-19 Test. The four players are Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Navdeep Saini, the backup fast bowler. The remaining three are members of the support team. T Dilip is the fielding coach, B Lokesh is the security liaison officer, and Rajeev Kumar is a sports massage therapist.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said that three RT-PCR tests were conducted after the Indian team landed in Ahmedabad on January 31 and then all positive cases have been ruled out. Dhawan and Saini tested positive after the first round test on January 31. On the same day, Dilip and Lokesh were also tested positive. Although Gaikwad was negative in the test on January 31, he was tested positive when he was tested the next day again. However, the results of the third-round test of Iyer and Rajeev came positive on Wednesday.
As per the BCCI guidelines, the seven positive members of the Indian squad will now be in isolation for seven days in separate rooms. BCCI secretary Jay Shah also said that selectors have added opening batsman Mayank Agarwal to the ODI squad considering the current situation.
However, the West Indies squad landed in Ahmedabad yesterday (February 2). Both teams are staying in the same hotel but on different floors. According to the BCCI guidelines, both India and the West Indies must stay in their hotel rooms for a minimum of three days in quarantine before leaving for training. India was scheduled to start training today, and the West Indies will start training in the second half from tomorrow.
The ODI series will be played in front of an empty stadium. The third wave of pandemics is currently sweeping India. On Tuesday, more than 160,000 new Covid-19 cases were discovered in India. Furthermore, more than 8,000 additional cases have been reported in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Dhawan, Iyer, and Gaikwad are likely to miss the three-match ODI series on February 6, 8, and 11. However, these three batsmen will aim to return to the T20I phase of the series. The T20I matches will be played on February 16, 18, and 20 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.