In a bizarre turn of events, 8 groundsmen of Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium has tested COVID positive just a week before the IPL. The BCCI selected as many as six venues for IPL 2021 matches to be played and Wankhede stadium is one of them. Though the players, staff, and everyone involved will be protected by the bio-bubble, apprehensions about the well-being of people are bound to be there.
As per a report in Sportstar, all the 19 groundsmen at the Wankhede Stadium gave RT-PCR tests last week. On March 26, three were confirmed to have contracted the virus. On April 01, the reports of five more turned out to be positive. With the groundsmen getting affected preparations for the first game in Mumbai could get affected as well.
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8 Groundsmen Tests COVID Positive Ahead Of IPL 2021
The situation now forces Mumbai Cricket Association to bring about a new set of groundsmen from the Sharad Pawar Academy at Bandra-Kurla Complex and Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana at Kandivali to get the ground ready for the new season.
Meanwhile, Mumbai is seeing a second wave of COVID cases recently which is why there are lockdown imposed on certain areas of the city. Despite that, the BCCI still considered the Wankhede stadium as one of its six venues while the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali was ignored.
There was a lot of controversy around Mumbai being chosen as one of the venues for the IPL despite a rise in COVID cases and the groundsmen now testing positive has fuelled it a bit more.
Each team is set to play at four venues during the league stage. Out of the 56 league matches, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata & Bengaluru will host 10 matches each while Ahmedabad and Delhi will host 8 matches each. One of the highlights of this edition of the VIVO IPL will be the fact that all matches will be played at neutral venues, no team will play at their home venue. All teams will play at 4 out of 6 venues during the league stage.
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