Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal and allrounder Krishnappa Gowtham have reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus and will stay back in Colombo even as the remaining India squad returns home after the conclusion of the T20I series which Sri Lanka won 2-1 on Thursday night.
Chahal and Gowtham are part of the eight India squad members who were deemed to be close contacts of allrounder Krunal Pandya who had tested positive for the deadly virus on July 27 following which the 2nd T20I was postponed by a day. Krunal was immediately moved to an isolation facility after being tested positive for the covid-19
The other six cricketers are Hardik Pandya, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Deepak Chahar and Ishan Kishan. The eight along with Krunal will be staying back in Colombo as per the guidelines of Sri Lankan government wherein covid positive individuals cannot leave the country unless they have undergone isolation for 10 days and cleared fresh series of tests.
“Yes, only Krunal will have to stay back in Sri Lanka for the time being due to the mandatory isolation period of one week," a senior BCCI official told PTI.
“After one week, if he has two negative RT-PCR reports, he will be allowed to fly back. Currently he is in the fourth day of his isolation. All others are free to depart as they have all tested negative," he added.
The eight cricketers along with Chahal and Gowtham continued to stay in the team hotel but separately. After Krunal’s positive test, India fielded a vastly different team for the second T20I giving debut to as many as four cricketers with net bowlers also added to the first-team squad as the tourists struggled to put together a playing XI.
A depleted India went on to lose the second T20I and then suffered another defeat in the series-deciding final contest on Friday night.
India were already touring with a young squad in the absence of several first-choice cricketers including captain Virat Kohli as they were in England for a five-match Test series starting from August 4.
The India squad in England has been hit by injuries with Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan (stand-by) ruled out of the entire tour. India have named Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav as their replacements and the duo is set to fly to England in the coming days
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