IPL 2020: A member from official broadcaster's team tests positive for coronavirus

The news of 13 CSK members including two players testing COVID-19 positive started doing rounds on the internet in no time. Fans, as well as prominent cricket names, wished them a speedy recovery as the feasibility of IPL 2020 is also dependent on their health status.

The 13th edition of IPL, which is scheduled to start on September 19, has suffered another blow as at least one member of the STAR production crew, who was in the first batch to leave India for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday, tested positive for coronavirus. The official broadcaster has been forced to postpone their flights in the wake of the incident.

Indians are expected to form the largest chunk of different departments of the STAR production team. The first batch was slated to leave from different cities on Sunday but it has been halted until Star India issues any further advice.

IPL 2020 schedule is yet to be released by BCCI

“STAR had asked the first lot of Indian crew members to reach the UAE from India on August 31, after reports of their Covid-19 tests, which were hurriedly done on Saturday on receiving instructions from the broadcaster. But one of them has tested positive and on getting this news the broadcaster immediately sent another instruction to all the personnel to defer their August 31 Emirates flight to the UAE,” a reliable BCCI-IPL source said as quoted by Inside Sport.

As their departure has been postponed, the production team members will also have to serve a longer quarantine period after reaching UAE. Surprisingly, the BCCI is yet to release the schedule of the much-awaited IPL 2020, slated to start after just 18 days.

The BCCI-IPL source revealed that STAR might now wait and watch developments of their other production team members. “Now, major changes could be effected in the IPL following a spate of positive Covid-19 test results of team personnel and now a crew member of the production team.

One could also see changes in the opening game, which was likely to be played in Abu Dhabi, between champions Mumbai Indians and runners-up CSK. One big reason is that the number of positive Covid-19 cases are rising in Abu Dhabi, though initially Dubai and Sharjah were more affected,” said the source.