India spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Krishnappa Gowtham have tested positive for Covid-19 in Colombo three days after Krunal Pandya returned a positive test. The second T20 International between India and Sri Lanka had to be postponed and it was eventually played on Wednesday.
Chahal and K Gowtham Tests COVID19 Positive
According to the Sri Lankan government’s guidelines, anyone testing positive for the virus needs to isolate for at least ten days and then clear a fresh round of tests to be allowed to leave the country.
Those identified as close contacts of the affected person must isolate for seven days and then clear the prescribed tests.
India were forced to play the final two T20Is without as many as 9 of their best players on the tour after 8 players were deemed to be in close contact with Krunal Pandya.
All the players were tested and Yuzvendra Chahal and Krishnappa Gowtham returned positive tests. Both players are asymptomatic.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Chetan Sakariya, and Nitish Rana made their T20I debuts in the second T20I while Sandeep Warrier played his international match after Navdeep Saini injured his shoulder in the penultimate over of the Sri Lankan innings in the second T20I.
Meanwhile, Dhawan on Thursday indicated that there was an option of not playing the T20 International series after losing nine players to COVID-19 related isolation but they chose the difficult route of playing with only five specialist batsmen.
“It was a difficult situation for us but as a team, we decided we will stay and play the series,” Dhawan said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The development is bound to pose further hurdles for the pair of Shaw and Yadav, who were scheduled to fly out to England immediately after the Sri Lanka tour to link up with the India Test squad.
