IPL 2020: Deepak Chahar in quarantine; BCCI, Chennai Super Kings feel 'no threat' to IPL

Bengaluru, August 29: In a setback to the IPL 2020, a pacer and 11 members of the support staff of the Chennai Super Kings were tested positive for Covid 19, forcing an extension of quarantine. Now, it has emerged that the pacer bowler is Deepak Chahar, who has played three ODIs and 10 T20Is for India since 2019.

Chahar and others those who tested positive will be in isolation for a period of 14 days and he will have to undergo further Coronavirus tests before rejoining the Chennai Super Kings squad. However, the BCCI authorities, as per ToI, said there was no immediate threat to the IPL 2020 but now it will take some more time to announce the tournament match schedule.

"Adequate measures are in place to tackle the situation and there is no immediate threat to the tournament. But the announcement of fixtures has been delayed because of this development," said a BCCI official.

The Chennai Super Kings had conducted a five-day training camp at the M A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, before their departure to the UAE, the venue of IPL 2020. The BCCI official said the governing body had cautioned the Super Kings about the dangers of such a camp.

"Senior BCCI officials had cautioned the CSK management about the risks of holding such a camp in India. And they also thought it would be good to hold camp because many of their frontline players like MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu etc had little or no cricket behind them," the official said.

The Super Kings camp too reiterated that they have not asked for postponement of their matches and are preparing for their opening game on September 19. "It is difficult but the entire team is on the same page. We know we are in a position to absorb this delay and take it in our stride," a CSK source said.

"As far as we know, we are playing on September 19 and that's how we are preparing mentally. Now we are only hoping that no one else tests positive in the next few tests."