After Rishabh Pant, Indian cricket team’s throwdown specialist Dayanand Garani has also tested positive for Covid-19, news agency PTI reported on Thursday.
Three other coaching assistants, Bowling coach Bharath Arun, reserve wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and India’s standby opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, have been quarantined after Garani’s positive report came on Thursday. All three have been tested negative for the virus, but have to follow the UK Government’s Health Safety Protocol and stay in isolation.
Pant, who has tested positive for Covid -19 virus in England, is staying in home isolation at a friend’s place, reports say.
Pant, Garani, Arun, Saha, and Easwaran are all in London and will not be travelling with the rest of the Indian contingent to Durham, the report further states.
Meanwhile, as per a BCCI source cited by the PTI in a previous report, Pant has been in isolation for eight days and is currently asymptomatic.
In the absence of both Pant and Saha, KL Rahul might have to step up to keep wickets for India in the practice game. The Indian team will undergo more rounds of COVID tests in Durham before kicking off their preparations for the practice match against County XI.
The three-day practice match is scheduled to begin on July 20. Pant will miss the practice game but is likely to be fit for the opener of the five-match Test series against England from August 04.