IPL 2021 Updates

Hello everyone and thank you for coming to read this article. There are a few updates related to IPL 2021 and we would be discussing those today.

You all might already know that the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders that was supposed to be played on 3rd May did not happen. Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier, the two players of Kolkata tested COVID positive and Virat Kohli, the captain of Bangalore refused to go ahead with the scheduled match after this news broke out. These two players have already been sent into isolation and the whole Kolkata team has been asked to quarantine. The members of the Delhi Capitals have also been asked to quarantine themselves as Kolkata had played its last match with Delhi. The two teams have their next match against each other only in 5 days and they are supposed to be in quarantine till then. 

Apart from that, three members of the Chennai Super Kings also have tested COVID positive. Their CEO, Kasi Viswanathan, the bowling coach, L. Balaji and a bus cleaner have tested positive. But the sources of BCCI claim that their reports had false positives and nobody in Chennai's team is COVID positive.

So although the match of Bangalore and Kolkata has been rescheduled, the tournament is supposed to continue for now. Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad have their match on 4th May and that is supposed to happen as per schedule. It will be interesting to see whether Chennai plays its match against Rajasthan on 5th May or not. As per the current status, the match is supposed to be played as BCCI claims that there is no case of COVID-19 in Chennai's camp.

Also, KL Rahul has undergone successful surgery for appendicitis and he is likely to rejoin Punjab after quarantine. 

With the number of COVID cases in India, there is a section of people who feel that continuing with IPL is not a safe option at present. But the BCCI has a different stand and they are willing to go ahead with the tournament. But since there has been a breach in the bio-bubble now as COVID has affected the teams, the BCCI will have to rethink every aspect once again. For now, the IPL is happening but there will be eyes from across the world on every development of COVID cases in the teams and the BCCI will have to take big steps to execute the tournament.

So I hope that you all will have the match summary of Mumbai v/s Hyderabad to read here on Wednesday morning. Until then, stay home and stay safe!