Reports: Jayant Yadav to stay back for ODIs after Washington Sundar tests Covid-19 positive

All-rounder Jayant Yadav is part of the Indian Test squad for the ongoing Test series in South Africa and he has been asked to stay back for the three ODIs as well now as cover for Washington Sundar. The Tamilnadu all-rounder was tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in South Africa recently, and he has gone into isolation. Luckily, the other Indian players who had traveled with Sundar had tested negative while this will be a good opportunity for Jayant to make a name.

Suryakumar Yadav, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Venkatesh Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Yuzuvendra Chahal, and Prasidh Krishna were the other players to travel with Sundar on the flight from Bengaluru. The ODI series is scheduled to start on the 19th of January and will end on the 23rd of January. The previous ODI series in South Africa in 2018 was completely dominated by India with a scoreline of 5-1.

Washington Sundar isolated from other players

Yadav who has been asked to stay back plays the same role of off-spin all-rounder and has immense domestic experience under his belt. He has played just one One Day International so far in 2016 against New Zealand in which he finished with figures of 1 wicket for 8 runs. He is a handy batter down the order and can prove to be a good option for India until Sundar recovers in time.

“Sundar has tested positive and he has been isolated from other players. All other players’ reports came negative. They are undergoing a three-day quarantine period. Once they get three negative reports, these players will go into the Indian team bubble,” a BCCI official told as quoted by Indian Express

With both Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel being injured, India will need their spin all-rounders in the right zone. R Ashwin has been recalled into the ODI side as well for the upcoming series against South Africa and he is expected to be the first choice option now ahead of Yadav. KL Rahul will take up the leadership role in absence of injured Rohit Sharma for the ODI series.