Ahead of their second game against Rajasthan Royals on Thursday, Delhi Capitals face a massive blow as their premier pacer Anrich Nortje has tested positive for COVID-19, reported news agency ANI.
Fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Nortje were instrumental in the Capitals’ march to the IPL final last year with 52 wickets between them.
Nortje and Kagiso Rabada arrived in India on April 6 and were undergoing a mandatory seven-day quarantine. They missed the opening fixture against the Chennai Super Kings on April 10 at Wankhede Stadium, which Delhi won comfortably. While Nortje came in with a negative report, he tested positive while undergoing quarantine.
Speaking to ANI, sources in the know of developments said that the pacer tested positive while undergoing quarantine.
“He came in with a negative report, but has unfortunately tested positive now while undergoing quarantine,” the source said.
The BCCI SOP states that a member of the squad, who tests positive for the dreaded virus, must isolate in the designated area outside the bio-secure environment for a minimum of 10 days from the first day of symptoms or collection of the sample.
Nortje participated in the ODI series against Pakistan. After playing the first two ODIs, the Proteas pacer started his journey to IPL 2021.
Interestingly, there is no confirmation yet over when did he test positive for the virus. Earlier, there were reports of Nitish Rana and Devdutt Padikkal testing positive as well but their respective franchise later revealed that the cricketers had contracted the virus at an earlier date.
