Cricket news 2023: Concerns grow as strict Covid-19 isolation protocols return for IPL

Covid-positive players have been allowed to play in recent international and domestic cricket tournaments – but the BCCI is adamant things have to be different in this year’s IPL.

Players in this year’s edition of the Indian Premier League will have to isolate for seven days if they test positive for Covid-19 in a departure from the protocols in place for most other tournaments.

The BCCI, Indian cricket’s governing body, has decided to stick to its 2022 policy of insisting on a week-long isolation period in a hotel room if a player or members of support staff test positive, though teams will not be operating out of biosecure bubbles as they have been for the past three years.

The tournament gets under way next week and lasts until the end of May, and the organisers have said they want to be “careful”.

As a result, players testing positive will not be allowed to participate in a match or training until they return two consecutive negative tests.

Although testing will take place only if someone displays symptoms, the decision has caused some concern, particularly among overseas players, who have got used to more relaxed rules.

Australia’s Cameron Green will play for Mumbai Indians as the most expensive Australian cricketer in Indian Premier League auction history. Picture: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images

In international and most domestic tournaments, players are allowed to take part in matches even if they test positive.

In August, Australian all-rounder Tahlia McGrath became the first cricketer to play a match despite testing positive when she played in the Commonwealth Games final against India.

At the men’s T20 World Cup in October, Australia’s Matthew Wade tested positive but was named in the team to take on England, although the match was eventually washed out. And Matthew Renshaw, the Australia opening batsman, tested positive before the first morning of the New Year’s Test match in Sydney against South Africa but went on to play.

Thirteen English players will take part in this year’s IPL, including Ben Stokes, who will fulfil his $2.89 million (AUD) contract with Chennai Super Kings despite his chronic knee injury, though his workload will be carefully managed before this summer’s Ashes.

Ben Stokes is unlikely to bowl much in the year’s tournament. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

The issue with his right knee prevented Stokes from bowling more than two overs in the second Test against New Zealand in February, which ended with a last-over win for the hosts. However, England’s captain was visibly troubled by his knee injury, admitting for the first time after the Test he was worried about the injury.

There will be discussions between the England management team and medics and the CSK medical team, and Stokes is unlikely to bowl much during the eight-week tournament.

There is unlikely to be any conflict between the two parties as CSK are coached by Stephen Fleming, who is friends with Brendon McCullum, England’s Test head coach.

Stokes is likely to have to leave the IPL this year before the final takes place, should Chennai qualify, to be back in time for the first Test of the summer, against Ireland, which begins on June 1.

Although the exact nature of Stokes’s knee issue has not been disclosed, it is expected that he will have to have surgery at some point, although certainly not before the Ashes.

England have a six-month break after the Ashes in July before their next Test, in India, which does not begin until January 2024.