The Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai will host Match No.32 between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in the ongoing IPL 2022 on April 20 instead of the MCA Stadium in Pune, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced in a statement.
The Delhi Capitals vs Punjab Kings encounter in IPL 2022 was initially scheduled to happen at the MCA Stadium but after several positive COVID-19 cases in the DC camp were reported on Monday, the whole contingent was asked to stay back in their hotel rooms in Mumbai.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday announced a change of venue for Match No. 32 – Delhi Capital versus Punjab Kings from MCA Stadium, Pune to Brabourne – CCI scheduled on April 20th, 2022, to avoid any further incident due to any undetected case during a long-distance bus journey in a closed environment,” BCCI said in a statement.
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“The change of venue has been triggered due to five COVID-19 positive cases in the Delhi Capitals contingent,” added the BCCI release. On Monday; Mitchell Marsh (all-rounder), Abhijit Salvi (team doctor) and Akash Mane (social Media content team member) came out positive.
Chetan Kumar (sports Massage Therapist) tested positive on April 16 while physiotherapist Patrick Farhart became the first case of COVID-19 in IPL 2022 when the dreaded virus caught him on April 15.
According to the statement, all the members who have tested positive for COVID-19 are under isolation and medical observation. The five members will be tested on the sixth and seventh days and subject to both the tests being negative they will be re-integrated into the Delhi Capitals bio-secured bubble.
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The release also added that since Farhart’s came out on April 16, the entire Delhi Capitals contingent has been put under a daily RT-PCR testing procedure from the very next day. The fourth round of RT-PCR tests conducted on April 19th has returned negative.
The Delhi Capitals contingent will undergo another round of RT-PCR testing on the morning of April 20th. Last year, the IPL had to be suspended at the peak of the second wave in India in May. The BCCI then moved the tournament to UAE.
The entirety of IPL 2020 was held in the UAE after multiple postponements as India grappled with the pandemic. The BCCI is staging the league phase of IPL 2022 in four stadiums across Maharashtra to minimise the COVID-19 threat.
Now, with COVID cases gradually rising, the smooth conduct of IPL is under threat.
