India vs West Indies: Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer cleared to train after testing negative for Covid-19, Ruturaj Gaikwad still in isolation

Highlights:

Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer have tested negative for Covid-19.
On Feb 8th, both of them went through some light training at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Both Dhawan and Iyer will miss the second ODI against West Indies.
Ruturaj Gaikwad still in isolation.

India vs West Indies series-2022:

The West Indies cricket team is scheduled to tour India in January and February-2022 to play three ODI’s and three T20I matches. The ODI series will form part of the inaugural of ICC Cricket World Cup Super League-2020-23. It has been scheduled to begin on February 06th-2022 and ends on February 20th-2022. All the ODI matches will be played at Ahmedabad and T20I matches at Kolkata.

Dhawan and Iyer cleared to train after tested negative for Covid-19:

On February 08th (Tuesday), Indian Opener Shikhar Dhawan and middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer have been cleared for training after testing negative for Covid-19. However, they are unlikely to be available in second ODI against West Indies on February 09th (Wednesday) in Ahmedabad.

The source in the BCCI said, “Yes, Shikhar and Shreyas have tested negative for COVID-19 and they have been cleared to train. Ruturaj Gaikwad is still in isolation”.

Earlier (last week), before the first ODI against West Indies, Shreyas Iyer, Dhawan, Ruturaj, and Navdeep Saini had tested positive for Covid-19. As a result, all these players missed the first ODI against West Indies and get into quarantine.

After completing a week-long isolation, Iyer and Dhawan have now tested negative, and are set to do some ‘light training’ at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday evening (Feb 08th), under the watchful eyes of the BCCI medical team. However, Young Opener Ruturaj Gaikwad is still in isolation.

A source in the BCCI said, “Both of them (Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan) are allowed to light training as per the protocol. However, the medical team will monitor them before a decision is taken about their availability”.

Meanwhile, Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul are also back in the nets after completing their quarantine. While KL was ruled out of the first ODI due to sister’s marriage, Agarwal has been added to the squad as a backup to four players who were hit by Covid-19.

Their (Mayank and Rahul) coming back after quarantine makes our unit stronger. At the end of the day, it is the team management’s call as to who will play or not. We are really happy to have them back,” batter Suryakumar Yadav said on the eve of the second ODI.

India vs West Indies – Details of first ODI match:

India played its first ODI match against West Indies on Feb 06th (Sunday), the Rohit Sharma led the squad defeated the West Indies by 6 wickets at Narendra Modi Stadium.

India has won the toss and opted to bowl first. West Indies has scored 176 runs out of 43.5 over in the first innings of the match, with no wickets left to spare. India has a goal of 177 runs and they managed to reach the goal. India has scored 178 runs out of 28 overs, with 6 wickets and 132 ball left to spare.

The second and third ODI matches will be scheduled on Feb 09th (Wednesday) & 11th (Friday) in Ahmedabad.

India squad – Details:

The India squad has 26 players with both ODI and T20s combined and the likes of Ishan Kishan and Venkatesh Iyer are likely to be added to ODI squad after the Covid outbreak. At present, Rohit Sharma is the only opener available and Virat Kohli could be forced to open if they do not call in replacements. KL Rahul will only join from the second ODI. Shikhar Dhawan and Ruturaj Gaikwad will miss the first two ODIs.