IPL 2022: DC-RR encounter shifted to Wankhede Stadium; DC-PBKS to go as per schedule

The 34th league encounter of the IPL 2022, scheduled between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals, has been shifted from Pune’s MCA Stadium to Mumbai’s Wankhede in the aftermath of increasing Covid-19 cases in the Delhi Capitals camp, where a sixth positive result was registered on April 20 as Tim Seifert caught up with the virus.

There were questions hovering over the fate of Wednesday’s clash following Seifert’s result, however, any further mishap was evaded, with things eventually going forward as per plan. Seifert had returned a negative RT-PCR initially, however, he showed symptoms. Later, he underwent another round of Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), which bore a positive result.

As per the Covid-19 protocols meant for the tournament, Seifert will have to serve a mandatory seven-day quarantine before returning two negative RT-PCR tests conducted 24 hours apart. Meanwhile, Seifert aside, five others – Patrick Farhart (team physio), Chetan Kumar (massage therapist), Mitchell Marsh, Abhijit Salvi (team doctor) and Akash Mane (social media member) – tested positive between April 15 to 18.

Meanwhile, the relocation, termed as a “precautionary measure” in a BCCI release, comes only a day after the 32nd game of the league between the Capitals and Punjab Kings was shifted from Pune to Brabourne Stadium with a view “to avoid any further incident due to any undetected case during a long-distance bus journey in a closed environment.”

BCCI Secretary Jay Shah further confirmed that the DC-PBKS clash is on as per schedule following two rounds of testing that the entire Delhi Capitals contingent underwent on April 20. The results returned on the said tests were confirmed to be negative. “Match No. 32 involving Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings scheduled today at Brabourne – CCI will go ahead as per the schedule after the second round of COVID tests returned negative today,” the release said.

After the previous IPL season was hit by Covid-19, the BCCI decided to limit the tournament to four venues across two cities in 2022, with 55 of the 70 games scheduled in three Mumbai stadiums – Wankhede, Brabourne and DY Patil – and the remaining 15 at MCA, Pune. The Covid-enforced developments mean Pune has lost a chance to host two of those 15.