The former India wicketkeeper, who is part of Mumbai Indians’ coaching staff, is asymptomatic
Former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, who is part of the Mumbai Indians’ coaching set-up, has tested positive for Covid-19. More, who is a talent scout as well as wicketkeeping consultant with Mumbai, has isolated himself in Chennai, where the defending champions will play their initial set of matches including the IPL opener against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 9.
As a precautionary measure, the Mumbai Indians cancelled their training session on Tuesday, the day More tested positive.
“Mr. More is currently asymptomatic and has been isolated,” the franchise said in a statement issued on Monday. “Mumbai Indians and Kiran More have followed all the BCCI health guidelines. The MI medical team will continue to monitor Mr. More’s health and abide by the BCCI protocols.”
While More joins a growing list of people in the IPL to have tested positive in the past week, his is among the rare cases of a person who has had to isolate after operating in a bubble.
It is understood that More had joined the franchise bubble in Mumbai, where the first phase of the preparatory camp was conducted. It was this bubble that the Indian players who took part in the England limited-overs series – including Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav – joined. The entire contingent then moved to Chennai last week.
In the pictures put out by the franchise on their social media, More can be seen attending team sessions in the past week both at the team hotel as well as training sessions on the ground. It is understood that the franchise has been conducting rapid tests daily in the past few days to ensure the rest of the Mumbai contingent is safe.
According to the IPL protocol, asymptomatic cases or people with mild Covid-19 symptoms have to be isolated for a minimum of 10 days in a designated area outside of the biosecure bubble. The isolation begins from the time the symptoms are detected or from the date when the positive test is returned. The person can return to the bubble only after clearing two RT-PCR tests on the last two days of the isolation period. In the case of players, they must then undergo cardiac screening before resuming training.
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo