India U-19 World Cup team hit by Covid positives
India braved the tough situation by scoring 307/5 against Ireland in Wednesday's match.
India’s campaign in the U-19 World Cup in the Caribbean has been hit by Covid. Four players, including skipper Yash Dhull, have tested positive for the virus while two others have shown symptoms. The India U-19 boys, who began their campaign with a 45-run victory over South Africa on Saturday, had to take the field for the match against Ireland in Tarouba on Wednesday with just the 11 available players as a result.
Delhi boy Dhull hit 82 in the first match to bail the team out of a difficult situation. Vice-captain SK Rasheed has also tested positive. In their absence, Nishant Sindhu, a left-handed batter from Haryana who also bowls left-arm spin, took over the reins. The two players who came into the side for Dhull and Rasheed were Karnataka’s Aneeshwar Gautam and Haryana’s Garv Sangwan.
The others who tested positive are Aaradhya Yadav and Siddarth Yadav. Vasu Vats and Manav Parakh have shown symptoms and are also isolating as a precaution. These four players weren’t part of the playing XI against South Africa.
Siddarth’s RT-PCR Test result has returned positive, which throws his participation in the remainder of the tournament in serious doubt. Dhull, Rasheed and Aaradhya’s Rapid Antigen Test results have returned positive. Their RT-PCR results are awaited. The Rapid Antigen Test results of Vats and Parakh have returned negative and their RT-PCR Test results are awaited.
“All the six players are under isolation. We are monitoring the situation closely and are in touch with the management and the coaching group,” a BCCI official said.
While India’s squad comprises of 17 members, they also have five reserves – Rishit Reddy (Hyderabad), Uday Saharan (Punjab), Ansh Gosai (Saurashtra), Amrit Raj Upadhyay (Bengal) and PM Singh Rathore (Rajasthan) – in the squad.
The Covid outbreak in the squad didn’t deter the Indians from racking up a total of 307/5 against Ireland. Left-handed opener Harnoor Singh, one of the standout players in the U-19 set-up with his consistent run-scoring at the top of the order, contributed a crucial 88 while fellow opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi hit 79.