The upcoming Under-19 Cooch Behar Knockout is in jeopardy after 57 people – including players, support staff and others – tested positive for Covid-19. The development comes after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to postpone the Ranji Trophy, the Senior Women’s T20 League for the 2021-22 season and Col CK Nayudu Trophy due to the rising cases of Covid-19 in the country.
According to The Indian Express, among the 57 infected people, 30 are players, nine support staff, and the rest are groundsmen and match officials going to be a part of the tournament. The BCCI hasn’t called off the tournament yet but a decision will be taken soon.
“We will take a call on it soon. As the tournament was already on, we didn’t want it to stop but soon we will have to take a decision on it,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying.
A total of 8 teams – Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Mumbai, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Haryana and Bengal have qualified for the tournament. Out of the thirty infected players, six are from Mumbai while every team has an infected player; most of them are asymptomatic, the report stated further.
All teams were scheduled to play four-day knockout games in Pune starting Tuesday. Mumbai and Maharashtra played their last game in Pune and are stationed there.
