The Indian Premier League (IPL) hasn’t quite been the same since the SARS-COV2 virus spread from China to the entire world in 2020.
The league was suspended for a few months after the coronavirus pandemic brought the sporting world to a screeching halt, and later took place entirely in the United Arab Emirates from September to November.
The BCCI looked to host the tournament in India the following year and a few matches even took place in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi before the virus breached the bio-secure bubble and led to the tournament getting suspended again. The remaining matches took place in the UAE right before the T20 World Cup.
The organisers of the league would’ve had high hopes for the 15th season of the league given the sharp reduction in COVID cases in the country after the third wave in January. Four venues in Maharashtra had been given the responsibility of hosting the league phase of the tournament with BCCI allowing 25 percent fan capacity.
However, hosting an event in the middle of a global pandemic is fraught with risk and one can never rule out the possibility of players and team officials coming in contact with the virus and news of multiple COVID cases in the Delhi Capitals (DC) camp this week will have the BCCI sweating bullets and frantically coming up with solutions to try and keep the tournament running as smoothly as possible.
Here we look at the timeline of events surrounding the emergence of multiple positive COVID-19 tests in the Delhi Capitals camp:
The first case
Delhi Capitals physio Patrick Farhart returned a positive COVID-19 test on 15 April in what was the first case reported in this year’s IPL. Farhart’s positive test was confirmed five days after Delhi’s last game, which was against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Mumbai.
“Delhi Capitals physio Patrick Farhart has been tested positive for COVID-19. He is being closely monitored by the DC Medical Team at the moment,” read the official statement from the franchise. Their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) the following day went ahead as scheduled with the Rishabh Pant-led side losing by 16 runs.
Marsh isolated, hospitalised
Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh became the first player to return a positive COVID-19 test. Marsh, who had made his debut for the Capitals earlier on Saturday, had initially returned a negative test, but the second one turned out to be positive, resulting in immediate isolation from the squad.
Marsh was later admitted to a hospital, according to an official statement from the Capitals. “Delhi Capitals all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has tested positive for COVID-19, following which he has been admitted to a hospital. The Delhi Capitals medical team is closely monitoring Marsh’s condition,” read the DC statement that was posted on Twitter late in the evening on Monday.
More cases in the DC camp
It wasn’t just Farhart and Marsh who came in contact with the virus — team doctor Abhijit Salvi, a team masseur and social media content team member also returned positive tests, taking the tally to five and causing further worry not just for the franchise but for the tournament as a whole as well as for the BCCI.
“‘DC were supposed to travel to Pune today but the entire squad members have been told to retire to their respective rooms and as per protocol RT PCR is being done to ascertain whether there is an outbreak in the camp or it is an isolated case like Patrick Farhart,” a source in the BCCI was quoted as saying according to PTI.
DC-PBKS match shifted out of Pune
In latest development in the Delhi Capitals COVID saga, the upcoming fixture against the Punjab Kings that was supposed to take place at Pune’s MCA Stadium was shifted to Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, which was officially confirmed by the BCCI on Tuesday afternoon.
According to the BCCI, the decision was taken “to avoid any further incident due to any undetected case during a long-distance bus journey in a closed environment.”
Another overseas player tests positive
Things got worse both for the Capitals as well as for the BCCI after a second member of the Delhi Capitals squad, another overseas player at that, tested positive for the virus.
New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert, who had been picked up by the franchise in the player auction earlier this year for his base price of Rs 50 lakh, returned a positive test after a fourth round of testing on Wednesday, according to PTI. Seifert has made two appearances for the Capitals so far this season, against MI and GT on 27 March and 2 April respectively.
Incidentally, Seifert had also tested positive for the virus along with Prasidh Krishna last year when he was part of the KKR setup. The outbreak of cases had forced the BCCI to suspend the tournament for more than four months.
Ponting’s family member tests positive
Delhi ended up playing their match against Punjab despite the lingering threat of COVID, with the Rishabh Pant-led side thrashing the Kings by nine wickets in a one-sided affair to give their playoff hopes a much-needed boost.
However, on the eve of their next fixture against Rajasthan Royals, a member of head coach Ricky Ponting’s family returned a positive COVID test.
Ponting’s family, as a result, has been moved to the isolation facility following the positive test. Even though Ponting tested negative twice in the build-up to the Rajasthan Royals fixture, he decided to join his family in the isolation facility and thus will not be present at the Wankhede Stadium later on Friday evening.
“Ponting himself has tested negative twice subsequently. However, in the best interest of the team, the management and medical team has decided that he will remain in isolation for five days, as he was a close contact. He will, therefore, not be present at the ground for tonight’s game against Rajasthan Royals. The franchise requests for Ponting and his family’s privacy to be respected in the current scenario,” read the official statement from the franchise.
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