Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan & Ruturaj Gaikwad Test Covid Positive Ahead Of Ind vs WI Series: Report

As per the report, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will announce their replacements shortly and is monitoring the situation closely.

Team India, Representative Image (AFP)

New Delhi: In what comes as a big setback for the Indian cricket team, few players including Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan along with four support staff have tested positive for Coronavirus in Ahmedabad ahead of home series against West Indies, PTI reported. The Indian batting trio are part of the ODI squad taking on Windies in the upcoming ODI series. With uncertainty now over their participation, it will be interesting to see how the series will unfold.

"Three players -- Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan have tested positive. However there are multiple COVID positive cases among non-coaching administrative support staff. It could be between two to four people," a veteran BCCI official told PTI.

The three Indian players have been sharing the bio-bubble along with other players and hence their close contacts might have to go under isolation.

"The players are largely asymptomatic and hopefully will be fine by the end of the isolation period. You feel bad for Shikhar as he might have to miss the series and he is not a part of T20 squad," the official said.

In-form batter KL Rahul is not available for the ODI series opener and the ouster of this trio has put the national team and BCCI in a spot of bother.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will announce their replacements shortly and is monitoring the situation closely.

Rohit Sharma, senior players like Virat Kohli and coach Rahul Dravid have all tested negative as of Wednesday.

"They have returned negative as of today."

"The testing protocol set by BCCI medical team is for every day RT-PCR as RAT (Rapid Antigen Test) is often not conclusive. Although teams are supplied with RAT kits in case any player shows symptoms and wants to do a self test," the veteran official told PTI.

The much-awaited India vs West Indies three-match ODI series is set to be played from February 6 at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad.

All three ODIs will be played at this ground. Keeping in mind the current Covid-19 situation in India, spectators won't get entry in the stadium during the ODI series i.e. the entire Ind vs WI ODI series will be played behind closed doors.

After playing the ODI series in Ahmedabad, both the teams are slated to leave for Kolkata. A three-match T20 series is to be played between the two teams at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

BCCI recently announced India's 18-member squad for the ODI and T20 series against West Indies.

India's ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), KL Rahul (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), D Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan

India's T20I squad: Rohit Sharma(Capt),KL Rahul (vc),Ishan Kishan,Virat Kohli,Shreyas Iyer,Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk),Venkatesh Iyer,Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi,Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel