India vs England: Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav likely to leave for UK from Colombo today

New Delhi, July 31: India cricketers Suryakumar Yadav and Prithvi Shaw are likely to fly to the United Kingdom on Saturday (July 31) to join the Indian national Test team. Team India are set to play five Tests with England.

The Mumbai cricketers' travel plans took a beating after they were put in isolation as all-rounder Krunal Pandya tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week. Both Suryakumar and Shaw were amongst the eight players who were in the cricketer's close contacts and removed from India's T20I squad against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka continues to remain on the 'red list' of the UK government's travel advisory, but Shaw and Suryakumar will be permitted to enter as they are 'elite sportspersons' for whom there are certain exemptions in place.

The UK is allowing passengers only from the 'green list' countries at the moment but the rules are relaxed a little for elite sportspersons like cricketers, footballers or tennis players.

"The UK Government created Elite player exemption earlier this summer to help the Indian touring party travel in the first place. The same rule was used for other sports like football and tennis for the Euros and Wimbledon. And now that is being used for the two new players," a top ECB official was quoted by Cricbuzz on Friday (July 30).

Shaw and Suryakumar will have to undergo quarantine for 10 days upon their arrival in the UK. The duo will not be able to feature in the first Test against England starting August 4. The duo will have completed their quarantine by the time the second Test begins on August 12 at the Lord's.

Earlier on Friday, spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and K Gowtham also tested positive for the virus in Sri Lanka. Both Chahal and Gowtham had tested negative in the initial round of tests conducted on Thursday night (July 28), as they were part of eight players who had been put on isolation.