A day after Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was hospitalised, Indian spinner Axar Patel was on Saturday (April 3) tested corona positive.
Not only that, several ground staff of the Wankhede Stadium too have tested corona positive even though the Indian Premier League is going to start from April 9. Ten matches of the IPL have been scheduled to take place in Wankhede Stadium.
Following the steep rise in the number of cases uncertainty looms large over the tournament.
Of late, Gujarat and Maharashtra had witnessed a lot of cricket matches and both Sachin and Axar were quite active in them. While the former represented the Indian Legends, Axar participated in India-England series in which Test, Twenty20 and One Day International matches were organised. Ahmedabad and Pune were the main centres, though the first two Test matches were played in Chennai in February.
Pune, which is now under lockdown, hosted three ODIs—the last one held on March 28.
However, spectators were not allowed for the last three Twenty20s played in Ahmedabad and three ODIs in Pune.
It needs to be mentioned that Maharashtra alone recorded 481 out of 714 corona-related deaths on April 2.
Apart from Maharashtra and Gujarat corona virus cases are rising in Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In Punjab, the ‘NRI belt’ of Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar has been the worst affected part of the state. In UP special COVID guidelines have been issued for Kumbh Mela in Haridwar.
