Two unnamed members of the Birmingham-bound Indian women’s touring contingent have tested positive for Covid-19 and have stayed back in the country ahead of the T20I tournament to be played at the Commonwealth Games 2022, scheduled to start on Jule 28.
The two players did not travel with the rest of the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side on July 22 and are looking increasingly unlikely to be available for India’s CWG group opener against Australia on July 29.
The news of one of the players testing positive for the virus was confirmed by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly recently, and now reports are that one more member of the side has gone down with the disease.
“A second player has tested positive for COVID-19 and it happened before departure. Both the players remain in India,”
an Indian Olympic Association official told PTI.
Despite the ease in restrictions at the heels of the pandemic, the two players, who trained with the rest of the squad at the NCA in Bangalore, can only rejoin the touring party if they give negative tests.
“As per protocol, both players can only join the team once they test negative,”
said a BCCI source, with the two players now in a race against time to be fit for India’s successive group encounters of the eight-team tournament.
India will be taking on arch-rivals Pakistan in their second Group A match on July 29, followed by a clash against Caribbean-based qualifiers Barbados on August 3. All three matches will be played at the Warwickshire County Cricket Club Test match ground in Edgbaston.
The tournament also features hosts England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka in Group B.
Top two sides from respective groups will qualify for the semifinals. The winners of which will play for the gold medal in the tournament final on August 7. The losing semifinalists will contest for the bronze medal.
Harmanpreet and company had their first training session for the competition on July 26. The Asian rivals will be desperate to make their mark in the competition as women’s cricket makes its debut at the CWG games.
