Picture Credit: BCCI
The world is facing what might be the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. A new variant of this virus called Omicron has also cropped up. The sport is again facing a halt due to rising cases of the virus. Many league games, football matches, cricket tournaments are getting postponed due to cases in the camp.
After the postponement of the Ranji Trophy, BCCI on Monday announced that the knockout round of Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy has been postponed after 57 COVID-19 positive cases – 30 players, nine support staff, and the rest being groundsmen and match officials – have emerged inside the bio-bubble. The eight qualified teams for the knockouts – Mumbai, Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Bengal – were scheduled to play four-day knockout fixtures, scheduled in Pune from January 11 (Tuesday).
"Keeping everyone’s health and safety in mind, the knockout matches to be held in Pune have been put on hold until further notice. The BCCI had conducted 93 matches across 20 venues in the league stage. The Board will continue to monitor the situation and identify a new window once the situation improves" the statement from BCCI read.
Notably, the BCCI had recently postponed all the domestic tournaments that were lined up including the Ranji Trophy, Col CK Nayudu Trophy and the Senior Women’s T20 League for the 2021-22 season amid the third wave in the country.
It is further learned that of the 30 COVID-19 positive players, six are from Mumbai. A report suggested that “a majority of the players have not yet been vaccinated as they have been in a bio-bubble for the last one month, playing league games”.