Two IPL stars test positive for Covid-19 – Chennai Super Kings' Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaekwad named in reports

11 CSK support personnel also positive for coronavirus

Chennai Super Kings cricketer Deepak Chahar. AFP

The IPL have confirmed that two players, plus another 11 support personnel, have tested positive for Covid-19.

According to reports in India, Deepak Chahar, the India pace bowler, and his Chennai Super Kings teammate Ruturaj Gaekwad are the two players involved.

All the cases are understood to relate to CSK, who were due to start training on Friday after six days in quarantine after arrival from India. Each of the people involved is said to be asymptomatic.

The 13 positive cases were returned from nearly 2,000 tests that were undertaken between August 20 and 28, according to a statement by the organisers.

“The Board of Control for Cricket in India has put in place stringent health and safety protocols for the Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020 season,” the statement said.

“Accordingly, upon landing in the UAE, all the participants have followed a mandatory testing and quarantine programme.

“A total of 1,988 RT-PCR Covid tests were carried out between August 20-28 across all participant groups in the UAE.

“These groups include players, support staff, team management, BCCI staff, IPL operational team, hotel and ground transport staff.

“Thirteen personnel have tested positive of which two are players.

"All the affected personnel as well as their close contacts are asymptomatic and have been isolated from other team members.

“They are being monitored by the IPL medical team. As per the IPL 2020 health and safety protocols, testing on all participants will be conducted regularly throughout the IPL 2020 Season.”

In addition to the Covid outbreak, CSK were rocked by the departure of their batting talisman Suresh Raina on Saturday morning.

Raina returned to India and will miss the entire competition, which is due to start on September 19.

IPL stars in UAE

“Suresh Raina has returned to India for personal reasons and will be unavailable for the remainder of the IPL season," KS Viswanathan, CSK’s chief executive, said in a short statement on the team’s Twitter feed.

“Chennai Super Kings offers complete support to Suresh and his family during this time.”