'Went Through 22 Covid-19 Tests In Last Four & Half Months': Sourav Ganguly

The former Indian captain was tested for Covid-19 as many as 22 times in the past four and a half months, in order to carry out his professional duties due to the ongoing pandemic of Coronavirus.

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New Delhi: Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) President and former captain of the Indian Cricket Team Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday, claimed that he was tested for Covid-19 as many as 22 times in the past four and half months, in order to carry out his professional duties due to the ongoing pandemic of Coronavirus. The BCCI chief though never got tested positive for the disease, was busy with the Indian Primer League (IPL) from September to November in Dubai, and that he had positive cases around him forced him to get tested every time. “I must tell you I have got tested 22 times in the last four and half months and not been positive even once, I have had cases around me, so that probably forced me to get tested myself,” Ganguly said while talking to the media through a virtual conference. “I stay with elderly parents and I have traveled to Dubai and in the initial part, I was very worried, not just for me, but the community, you don’t want to spread it to somebody else because people are looking up to you,” he further added. The BCCI Chief on the strict bio-bubble rules during the IPL said, “We had about 400 people staying in the bio-bubble, 30-40 thousand tests have happened over a period of two and half months to make sure that everyone is safe and healthy. It’s a tournament for India. People spoke about the success of IPL, I told all of them that you must, you have to be in India to see what IPL is to India.” Speaking on the upcoming series against Australia starting on November 27, Ganguly said, “The players are fit and fine, Australia also doesn’t have a very high number of COVID cases, the borders were closed for a while…they are still very, very tight on international travel, you have to do 14 days of hard quarantine, so the boys are ready to get onto the field.” Sourav Ganguly also known as Dada (elder brother in Bengali), started his career in the year 1990, is the only batsman to score a century on debut. The cricketer served as the captain of the Indian Cricket team from 2000-05, one of the only five cricketers to have achieved the unique treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets & 100 catches in ODI cricket and the eighth-highest run-scorer in ODI history and second among the Indians, with 11,363 runs. Ganguly became the President of BCCI in 2019.