Team India’s preparations ahead of the rescheduled Birmingham Test against England, starting July 1, have taken a massive hit as some of the team members have contracted Covid-19.
On Tuesday, several media reports claimed that ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin missed out on the flight to England after returning a positive test. And now, a report carried in the Times of India stated that former India captain Virat Kohli was also struck by the virus after arriving in London a few days ago.
“Yes, Virat too was hit by Covid after returning from holidaying in the Maldives, but he’s recovered now,” a source was quoted as saying.
“This now means that India’s tour game against Leicestershire from June 24 won’t be as intense as coach Rahul Dravid wanted it to be, since the medical advice is to not overload the players after they’ve suffered Covid-19. There could be more Covid cases in the team,” the source further stated.
Kohli recovering from Covid is surely a good sign for the visitors who are already leading the five-match Test series 2-1. On Wednesday, Kohli also shared his pictures from India’s training session ahead of the rescheduled Test.
“Practice well. Stay happy,” he wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, several pictures have surfaced on social media in which the likes of Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma could be seen getting clicked with fans.
According to a Zee News report, the duo went shopping in London on Sunday, which was an off day for the squad.
Check out the pictures:
Amid all these reports, there is no official word from the BCCI on the entire episode.
It has also been learned that Ashwin will soon join the squad in London. New travel arrangements are being made for the veteran cricketer and he should be with the rest of his teammates soon.
Jayant Yadav was kept as a standby should Ashwin fail to recover in time. The Haryana spinner was called to the NCA in Bangalore. However, that option has now been ruled out as Ashwin has fully recovered and is expected to fly out in the next 24 hours, most probably on Wednesday.
Dravid has joined the Rohit Sharma and Co as the BCCI posted a couple of photos on their Twitter handle where the head coach was seen addressing the team in huddle. The Indian players have already started training in Leicester as they posted a video and a couple of photos of their training session on Monday.
