Covid no bar from play at T20 World Cup

Being non-contact sport, cricket is ready to allow Covid positives take field, while maintaining social distancing norms.

We've come a long way from Covid-19 pushing back the T20 World Cup of 2020 by a year and the rescheduled World Cup of 2021 having to be relocated to UAE from India.

Taking a cue from the Australian government, which has said they were moving away from ‘Covid exceptionalism’ and scrapped the five-day mandatory isolation protocols for Covid positives in the country, the International Cricket Council (ICC) will be employing relaxed Covid-19 guidelines for the upcoming T20 World Cup Down Under, starting October 16.

While sporting events around the world have already moved past bio-bubbles that had become a norm during the pandemic, we could even see a Covid positive player take field at the World Cup, albeit by maintaining social distancing -- permissible in a non-contact sport like cricket.

The most recent example was that of Australia’s Tahila McGrath, who had complained of mild symptoms of Covid at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August. The all-rounder was cleared to play the gold medal match against India despite returning a Covid-positive test, earlier in the day. She stayed away from her teammates with a mask on in the dressing room, batted, held her position while fielding and also bowled two overs. McGrath adhered to the social distancing protocols while celebrating wickets, before all was forgotten as she joined the team celebrations when the gold was won.

At the Games, players who tested positive were evaluated on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration factors such as severity of the symptoms and degree of infectiousness. Similar protocols will be employed during the T20 World Cup. It’s also learnt that no mandatory testing will be conducted during the marquee event and only those complaining of symptoms will be tested, monitored, and treated. In the absence of bio-secure environment, teams will be taking regular commercial flights.

At last year’s T20 World Cup in UAE, a regular testing plan was in place, even though the tournament was conducted in a Managed Event Environment. A total of 14,500 PCR tests were conducted during the event.

The players would be happy to see the relaxation in guidelines that signal a return to normalcy. “It’s a real shame that in elite sport you get publicly shamed for having Covid when over here probably 90% of the people in this room have it right now,” Australia’s Beth Mooney had said, backing the decision to allow McGrath to take field in the final.

However, the complexity of Covid and the varied response mechanisms of governments around the world mean a complete return to normalcy cannot be uniform at all world events. At the upcoming football World Cup in Qatar, for example, FIFA have said anyone testing positive would be isolated. Players and other participants of all 32 teams will be taking rapid antigen tests, every two days.

Regards,

Shivraj Kaithwas