Team India’s playing squad save the trio of Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer started training at the Narendra Modi Stadium after their RT-PCR tests came negative on Thursday (February 3). While Mayank Agarwal has joined the squad, he will only be available on the match day as his mandatory three-day quarantine has started, the team management has kept Ishan Kishan in scheme of things for the ODIs.
India is set to play a three-match ODI series against West Indies here, beginning February 6. “Today is a light session where the players have been accompanied by trainers,” a veteran official in know of things told news agency PTI.
It is also learnt that wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan, who is a specialist opener, has been added to the ODI squad. A COVID-19 outbreak had hit the Indian cricket team on Wednesday as three main players – senior opener Dhawan, reserve opener Gaikwad and middle-order batter Shreyas had tested positive for the virus during their mandatory isolation period before the start of West Indies series.
Four other persons, including net bowler Navdeep Saini, have also tested positive for COVID-19. Saini is also on the standby list. The remaining three who tested positive for the virus are non-playing members – fielding coach T Dilip, security liaison officer B Lokesh and masseur Rajeev Kumar
The Indian team assembled in Ahmedabad on January 31 for the upcoming white-ball series against the West Indies and were going through a three-day isolation period post their break from the South Africa series. The series starts in Ahmedabad on February 6 with India's 1000th ODI match but it is now a foregone conclusion that the trio – Dhawan, Ruturaj and Shreyas – will be missing the series as they will have to undergo a week-long isolation and then return with two negative RT-PCR tests.
" I will sit back, relax and enjoy the auction" says @mayankcricket in today's episode of auction reels. @IPL @PunjabKingsIPL #IPL2022MegaAuction @Yodadiagnostics pic.twitter.com/qGkMr71ZHw
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) February 3, 2022
Meanwhile, the India Test opener, in a conversation with Boria Majumdar on his show ‘Auction Reels’, has said that he is excited for the mega auction. He’s also keen to see the kind of players the team will be able to buy.
“Well, honestly, I think this auction I am going to just sit back and say, ‘oh yes’. I am going to be a lot more relaxed than probably a few other people but, you know, I am really excited for the auction – for the kind of players that we’ll be able to buy and the strategies, the thought processes that we’ve had as Punjab Kings before the auction (and) … say we’ve decided the kind of cricket we want to play (I’ll see) have we actually been able to get the kind of players that we, as a team, have been looking for,” said Agarwal.
“So it is exciting on that front but I can definitely say that, on a personal front, it’s going to be a lot calmer compared to any of the auctions before,” he added.
(with PTI inputs)
