As COVID-19 takes first wicket in the IPL's second spell, organisers sweat more than fans

Fresh disappointment for the IPL fans could be around the corner as Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler T Natarajan tested COVID positive just ahead of Wednesday’s match. The second leg of the tournament, which resumed last Sunday after a break of nearly five months due to the petrifying second wave in India, got another COVID fright. However, the rest of the contingent — including Natarajan’s six close contacts — tested negative and hence the match went on as scheduled at the Dubai International Stadium. This has been a tough year for Natarajan, currently in self-isolation and asymptomatic, as he was ruled out of the first half of IPL 2021 due to a knee injury which he had sustained during the tour of Australia. Sunrisers Hyderabad has so far lost six of the seven games in this season and now with the “yorker specialist” gone for another 10 days or so, the team, and of course the owners, would be miffed. SRH is already short of captain Jonny Bairstow who had pulled out of the league after the BCCI cancelled the fifth Test of the India-England LV series after a few staff members of the Indian contingent tested COVID positive. Three England players, including Bairstow, had withdrawn from the league as revenge, perhaps.

However, it is worth questioning why the organisers did not consider postponing or cancelling Wednesday’s match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals when the crucial fifth Test at Manchester was called off due to “COVID fears”; or were the IPL franchises too eager to move the players to UAE for the tournament? India has not won a Test series in England since 2007 and, if this Test is forfeited, the series which India was leading will be levelled at 2-2. Organising a tournament as grand as the IPL involves high stakes and a lot of money; hence, it is in the best interests of the franchises to keep the league going. The “bio-bubble measures” have been unable to contain the virus and the fans can only hope that no new cases surface during the remaining matches. Another question is whether this seemingly minor sloppiness in the IPL would become a bigger concern for the ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to start next month in the UAE itself? The cricket authorities need to take a call: Is their priority players and public health or the lure of lucre?