Wednesday’s game between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals is set to be postponed in the national capital as for the IPL 2021Â itself, the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) is awaiting permission from the Maharashtra government to move the league to Mumbai after CSK bowling coach Laxmipati Balaji once again testing positive for COVID-19, the team is set to isolate and follow all the protocols.
Speaking to ANI, a BCCI official said while the CSK-RR game is under the cloud after Balaji and the two other non-playing staff members tested positive for COVID-19. BCCI is also looking to move base to Mumbai keeping in mind the COVID-19 situation in Kolkata and Bengaluru the stadiums are next in line to host the matches after Delhi and Ahemdabad.
“Coming to the league itself, we are looking at moving base to Mumbai, but are awaiting clearance from the Maharashtra government and once that is done, we will be good to go. Should take us another couple of days to get the clearance.”
As reported by Sportsmint earlier three positive cases were found in CSK camp. It is believed that non-playing staff is affected instead of the main squad. CSK was supposed to play against Rajasthan on May 5. The whole squad is currently residing in Delhi for the second phase of IPL 2021, which is one of the worst affected cities in India.Â
A total of five groundsmen at Arun Jaitley Stadium have tested positive for COVID-19. Two players from the Kolkata Knight Riders (Varun Chakravarthy, and Sandeep Warrier) camp also tested positive for COVID-19. Some rumours are circulating that the current season could be suspended for ten days. However, there is no official confirmation of the suspension from the BCCI. IPL 2021 has been under intense scrutiny for staging games amidst a crisis situation across the country due to the second wave of the pandemic. The big setbacks this week will further increase scrutiny.