Finance
By: Shree1news, 03 APR 2021
NEW DELHI: The BCCI remains hopeful of conducting the scheduled
IPL matches in Mumbai from April 10-25 regardless of a massive surge in COVID-19 cases within the city and 10 members of the Wankhede Stadium staff test positive.
Indore and Hyderabad have been kept as stand by venues for the IPL in case the COVID situation spirals out of control.
With in excess of 47,000 cases on Friday, Maharashtra is a potential situation of mini-lockdown.
Of equal concern to the organisers is the number of groundstaff at the Wankhede going up from 8 to 10 between Friday evening and Saturday morning.
If that wasn’t enough, around six members of the event management team have also tested positive for COVID-19 and have been sent to isolation.
“Yes, it was 8 positive cases yesterday as far as ground-staff are concerned. Today two more positive cases have emerged and all 10 have been sent back home and are isolated.
“We are bringing fresh ground-staff from the Mumbai CA ground in Kandivali for preparations. Also 6 to 7 event management staff hired by BCCI have also tested positive,” a senior Mumbai CA official told.
When a senior BCCI office-bearer was asked in regards to the situation, he admitted that BCCI is indeed concerned.
“Look, even if there’s a lockdown, the teams are in bio-bubble and also it’s a closed-door event. So we’re still confident that IPL games in Mumbai will likely be held as per schedule with Delhi Capitals playing Chennai Super Kings on April 10 on the second day of the tournament. “However Hyderabad and Indore are there on stand by in case the situation goes out of hand,” the office bearer informed on Saturday.
As of now, none of the teams currently in Mumbai — Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings — have access to Wankhede.
“Delhi Capitals ad Punjab Kings for example are taking turns to train at the Brabourne Stadium and Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) ground. KKR is training in Navi Mumbai at the DY Patil before they leave for Chennai,” the official informed.
It’s expected that BCCI’s medical unit will enhance the testing rate because of the surge of cases in the state.
The event management and operations of IPL till last year, was handled by the IMG however from this year, the board is handling the event on its own.
“We have enough back-up staff to deal with as we had factored in that the situation in Mumbai is grim in the meanwhile. However yes, we’re closely monitoring the situation,” the official added.
Wankhede is set to host 10 IPL games this season from April 10-25. The first match at the Mumbai stadium is slated to be performed on April 10 between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings.
Maharashtra reported 47,827 new COVID-19 cases and 202 deaths on Friday with Mumbai registering the highest-ever single day spike of 8,832 new cases. It was the second day in a row that Mumbai recorded more than 8,500 cases.
On Thursday, Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Nitish Rana had tested negative for coronavirus after returning a positive result on March 22. Having undergone self-isolation after the positive result, he underwent a COVID-19 test on Thursday and tested negative. He’ll start training shortly with an eye on the opening game towards SunRisers Hyderabad on April 11.
Commenting on the turn of events, KKR issued a statement which read: “Nitish Rana had checked into the KKR team hotel in Mumbai, on March 21 with a negative COVID report which was done on March 19. As per IPL protocol, he was tested on March 22, throughout his quarantine and the report showed that he was positive. He has had no signs and has been completely asymptomatic since. Again as per IPL protocol, he isolated himself and was tested again right now. We’re glad to report that he has tested negative. We expect him to start training with the team shortly and be fully fit well before the start of the season.”
The BCCI SOP says a player who tests positive should isolate within the designated area outside the bio-secure environment for a minimum of 10 days from the first day of symptoms or the date of collection of the sample which resulted in a positive RT-PCR report, whichever is earlier.
“During the 10-day isolation, the individual must rest and avoid any exercises. The team doctor should regularly monitor the case. If symptoms worsen during the course of isolation, the individual have to be hospitalised immediately,” the SOP states.
Source:A-N
