'There's a little bit of apprehension' - Kane Williamson on 13 members of CSK testing positive for COVID-19

The New Zealand captain, Kane Williamson has shown a little bit of trepidation about the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL). The Kiwi batsman is worried about the circumstances after 13 members of Chennai Super Kings were tested positive for COVID-19. The tournament is set to kick off from September 19th and the teams have already reached UAE. The league was earlier shifted to UAE due to the rising cases of Novel Coronavirus in India.

Williamson is among the six New Zealand players that will feature in IPL 2020. He captained the Sunrisers Hyderabad side last year and will be featuring as a player this time. The top-order batsman is due to leave for UAE on Thursday to join the Sunrisers’ camp. He shared his thoughts about the extravaganza on Radio New Zealand on Wednesday.

“Obviously that’s bad news,” Williamson said as quoted by ESPN.in. “You don’t want to hear anybody [has] COVID. I hear they are predominantly asymptomatic, so hopefully, through another lockdown period, they can come through and we’ll be okay. There’s a little bit of apprehension, certainly, as you get nearer to the time…you start thinking you do have to be extremely vigilant and disciplined.”

We’ve been in close contact with the BCCI: NZC CEO

The schedule for the tournament is yet to be announced as there has been a delay due to rising cases of COVID-19 in Abu Dhabi. The players have been warned about breaching the biosecure bubble. The Kiwi skipper is pleased that all the teams are staying in separate hotels.

There are 9 Kiwi players currently participating in the Caribbean Premier League and 6 are due to feature in IPL. David White, the New Zealand Cricket CEO, said the board was keeping tabs on the circumstances in the UAE as well as the Caribbean islands.

“We’ve been in close contact with the BCCI, we are very comfortable with all the process they have in place,” he said. “Likewise with the CPL, we’ve got nine players there at the moment and they’ve been very vigilant with their systems as well. [We’re in] close collaboration with all the member countries around the world.”