IPL 2021 Suspended: Players Could Have Caught COVID-19 At The Airport, Claims Report

IPL 2021 was suspended by BCCI with immediate effect after few players and members of support staff tested positive for Covid-19. In an emergency meeting on Tuesday, BCCI took the decision of suspending IPL 2021 with immediate effect. Now, a report from a TV channel has claimed that players could have caught coronavirus at the Airport.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ players Varun Chakravarty and Sandeep Warrior were the first to test positive for Covid-19. Later Delhi Capitals’ Amit Mishra and Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Wriddhiman Saha got caught Covid-19. Three members of CSK support staff including bowling coach Laxmipathy Balaji and batting coach Michael Hussey also tested Covid-19 positive. As a result, BCCI suspended IPL 2021 season with immediate effect for the safety of players.

Players Contacted Virus At Airports: Report

A report by news channel NDTV has claimed that two players and coach contacted Covid-19 when travelling through airports.

“NDTV has learned two players and one team coach contacted COVID-19 while travelling through the airport terminus. Teams had demanded tarmac access from state governments, which was denied, thus risking the players. In UAE, there was no air travel,” the report said.

For the first leg of IPL 2021, four teams stayed in Chennai while four stayed in Mumbai. After the first leg of IPL 2021 was over, the teams travelled to Delhi and Ahmadabad for the 2^nd leg. For travelling purposes, players, coaches, and support staff had to go through airports and board flights. Notably, during IPL 2020 in UAE, the teams travelled by buses to all three grounds. Moreover, they also stayed in only one hotel throughout IPL 2020.

Some BCCI members have revealed that BCCI had the option to shift IPL 2021 to UAE instead of India. Ahead of the start of the tournament, some members of the IPL governing council had proposed BCCI to shift the IPL 2021 tournament to UAE. However, BCCI did not act on their ideas and went ahead with the decision of organising IPL 2021 in India. BCCI took many measures for the safety of IPL 2021. However, the bio-bubble of teams was breached and BCCI had to suspend the tournament.