Delhi Capitals' game against Punjab Kings shifted to Mumbai from Pune after Covid outbreak

Mumbai: The IPL match between Covid-hit Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings was on Tuesday shifted to Mumbai from Pune following a virus outbreak in the Risabh Pant-led team.

In a statement on Tuesday, the BCCI said it has moved the game to Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai to ensure no Covid infection goes undetected in the bio-bubble.

Five members of Delhi Capitals, including one player in Mitchell Marsh have tested positive. Others down with the virus are physio Patrick Farhart, sports massage therapist Chetan Kumar, team doctor Abhijit Salvi and social media content team member Akash Mane.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India 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," said the BCCI in a statement.

Delhi Capitals will only be cleared to play the game after RTPCR tests on Wednesday morning. All the other players and support staff have returned negative in tests conducted on Tuesday.

"The Covid positive cases are under isolation and medical observation. They will be tested on Day 6 and 7 and subject to both the tests being negative they will be re-integrated into the Delhi Capitals bio-secure bubble.

"From April 16th onwards, the entire Delhi Capitals contingent has been put under a daily RT-PCR testing procedure. The 4th round of RT-PCR tests conducted on April 19th have returned negative.

"The Delhi Capitals contingent will undergo another round of RT-PCR testing on the morning of April 20th," the BCCI added.

Delhi Capitals' opponents Punjab Kings were supposed to travel to Pune on Tuesday but were asked to stay back in Mumbai.

"We were supposed to travel to Pune but we have been asked to stay back in Mumbai," a Punjab team official told PTI.

On Monday, the virus threatened to derail the IPL again after Marsh tested positive. He had undergone two RT-PCR tests with the first one coming negative but the subsequent test returned positive. This was after Marsh complained of sore throat and mild fever.

It is understood that the Australian all-rounder showed some symptoms and a Rapid Antigen Test was performed which came positive.

It could have been due to the fact that he was undergoing rehab under physio Farhart, who tested positive last week.

The players have remained in quarantine since Monday.

With Covid cases rising outside the IPL bio-bubble, the virus threat inside the controlled environment has also increased.

Last season, the tournament had to be suspended midway due to the second wave. It was resumed and completed in the UAE in September-October.