New Delhi: Five Indian players, including Skipper Yash Dhull, on Friday put aside the final league match team against Uganda at the U-19 World Cup after testing positive Covid-19 in the latest RT-PCR test.
Of the six players, isolated before the match against Ireland on Wednesday, only Tong Vasu tested by the All-Rounder, the ICC source told PTI.
The team, who have qualified for the quarter-finals, is set to take Uganda in the last Group B match on Saturday in Tarouba, Trinidad.
Skipper Dhull, Aaradhya Yadav and Shaik Rasheed, who have tested positive in the fast antigen test (mouse), has returned a positive report in the RT-PCR test along with Manav Parakh, which was tested negatively in mice.
Sidharth Yadav has been positively tested in the RT-PCR test before the Irish match.
“One positive from this unfavorable situation is that 11 who play against Ireland all have been tested negatively,” said Source of ICC.
Among those infected, Dhull has the worst symptoms but he is with other players, “Must be fine” before the quarter-finals on January 29 provided they top Group B.
India registered a victory pounding in Ireland to qualify for Ko after the team field after the outbreak Covid in their camp.
All infected players are required to undergo five days of isolation according to the tournament protocol and can only rejoin the team after returning three negative tests in that period.
How does the virus enter the bubble? After winning the Asian Cup in the UAE, the Indian team had flown to the Caribbean through Amsterdam.
Supporting staff members, which are fine now, have been positively tested during the hard quarantine on arrival in Guyana after capturing infection on the way and believed to contract the virus from him.
The entire squad underwent a five-day hard quarantine in Guyana on arrival and took three RT-PCR tests in that period.
However, with a test report it took 48 hours, the third test report was only available on the seventh day.
“The players mingled with the coach in that period and it seems to be the most likely source of outbreaks in the team,” the source added.
It has also been studied that Bio-Bubble Tournaments can be tighter with a team that is not allocated a special floor in hotels such as Asia Cup in the UAE.
However, even though the tight bubble in Dubai, the virus managed to enter the environment and the league match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had to be abandoned after two officials involved in the game tested positively.
U19 WC: Skipper Dhull Among Five Players Not Available for Uganda Games
