Suresh Raina has left the UAE and will miss the IPL season.
The India star has returned to India, a day after it was reported a number of players from Chennai Super Kings had tested positive for Covid-19.
“Suresh Raina has returned to India for personal reasons and will be unavailable for the remainder of the IPL season," KS Viswanathan, CSK’s chief executive, said in a short statement on the team’s Twitter feed.
“Chennai Super Kings offers complete support to Suresh and his family during this time.”
CSK had been due to start training in Dubai on Friday, after completing six days' quarantining in their rooms after arrival from India last week.
However, they had to alter their plans after as many as 10 members of their contingent were reported to have tested positive for the virus.
The side are understood to have been the only team who had a formal pre-tour training camp before departing for the UAE.
The camp took place at the team’s home ground in Chennai, a city which has recorded over 130,000 Covid cases, with more than 2,600 related deaths.
The area in the immediate vicinity to the ground was lockdown in July, with all roads sealed off.
The team, as well as the IPL organisers, have yet to confirm the cases, or announce which players have been affected.
It is not believed the tournament is under threat at this point. The standard operating procedures issued to the franchises before departure for the UAE included mitigating a scenario like this.
The affected personnel are now required to be immediately isolated from the rest of the squad. They are already said to have been moved from the team hotel, with contact tracing under way.
They are required to isolate outside of the team’s bubble for 14 days, during which they are unable to train.
“After the two weeks isolation, the individual must return two negative PCR test reports done 24 hours apart before being permitted to re-enter the [bio-secure bubble],” the IPL procedures state.
“After recovery, players must undergo a cardiac screening before resuming any team activities.”
IPL players train in quarantine in UAE
