Sunrisers Hyderabad fast bowler Thangarasu Natarajan has become the first IPL player to test positive for COVID-19 since the competition restarted last weekend.
The Indian Premier League said in a statement last night that the left-arm paceman has “isolated himself from the rest of the squad.”
Six other members of the team, including allrounder Vijay Shankar, were identified as close contacts of Natarajan and were also placed in isolation.
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The IPL said the entire Hyderabad contingent went through testing yesterday and their results returned negative.
“As a result, tonight’s game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals will go ahead at the Dubai International Stadium,” the IPL said.
The match did go ahead.
The Delhi Capitals went on to notch their seventh win with a thumping eight-wicket victory over virus-hit Sunrisers.
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Without two key players – Shankar and Natarajan – Hyderabad was limited to 134-9 by Delhi’s seamers and spinners.
Shreyas Iyer (47 not out) and captain Rishabh Pant (35 not out) led the run-chase with a clinical unbroken 67-run stand as Delhi went atop the leaderboard with 14 points by reaching 139-2 in 17.5 overs.
The world’s richest Twenty20 league resumed in the United Arab Emirates on last weekend after it was suspended in early May when several players from two of the eight franchises tested positive for COVID-19 in India.
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