IPL 2021: Here’s the full list of players affected by COVID-19

COVID-19 has once again crawled its way into the lucrative T20 league. So far, three cricketers have tested positive for the virus, with Kolkata Knight Riders’ Nitish Rana (now recovered) from the deadly virus. The KKR batsman on Saturday started training with the rest of the team after his test report returned negative.
However, Delhi Capitals’ Axar Patel and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Devdutt Padikkal are yet to recover from COVID and are currently is isolation and under the supervision of medical staff.

While this is not the first time when franchises have been rocked by the novel virus even before the first ball of the tournament has been bowled. Three-time winners Chennai Super Kings had found themselves in a similar situation in the last tournament in UAE, when Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaekwad had tested positive for COVID. In addition to this a few members from CSK’s social media team had also tested positive for the virus.

CSK did eventually manage to survive the virus scare and the season opener between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians went ahead as per schedule, but it certainly had a lasting impact in the side’s campaign, as the heavyweights finished second-last and for the first time in the history of the tournament failed to make it to the playoffs.

Apart from the mandatory 14-day quarantine period, CSK were forced to remain isolated for an additional two weeks before they could enter the bio-bubble, making them the last team to begin their training. This was one of the reasons behind CSK’s woeful performance, something which was acknowledged by the skipper MS Dhoni himself.

“I haven’t batted for a long time. 14-day quarantine doesn’t help,” Dhoni had said after a match against Rajasthan Royals, which saw the skipper arrive in the middle after the likes of Sam Curran and Kedhar Jadhav in a stiff 217-run chase.
However, Dhoni’s reference was to the additional quarantine, which resulted in missing important training sessions.
Amidst all the COVID hullabaloo, Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh decided to skip the tournament completely due to personal reasons.

However, nothing as such has been announced yet for both the franchises, but COVID has proven to be a hindrance for teams, something which was evident in CSK’s campaign last season