Wriddhiman Saha has tested positive for Covid-19, meaning the Sunrisers Hyderabad became the third franchise to register positive cases at IPL 2021. The team was due to play the Mumbai Indians in Delhi on Tuesday but the IPL has been postponed following the surfacing of Covid-19 cases at least three franchises over the last few days.
ESPNcricinfo understands that Saha reported symptoms, including a fever, on May 1, the day before the Sunrisers played against the Rajasthan Royals in Delhi, an afternoon match. Saha had trained with the rest of the Sunrisers squad on the afternoon of May 1. Following that training session, Saha felt he might have got a heat stroke and had even got tested for Covid-19 on the same day. The result of that test was negative, but he still reported a fever.
Saha was isolated immediately by the franchise. He underwent two further tests, on Sunday and Monday. It is understood that he tested positive for Covid-19 in the the third round of testing.
Saha had scored eight runs in two games and taken three catches this season before he was excluded from the playing XI.
Two players from the Kolkata Knight Riders - spinner Varun Chakravarthy and seam bowler Sandeep Warrier - and two members of the Chennai Super Kings contingent - bowling coach L Balaji and a member of the maintenance staff - had also tested positive over the past two days. Subsequently, yesterday's game between the Knight Riders and the Royal Challengers Bangalore was put off, before the announcement of the postponement today.