Mike Hussey tests positive to COVID-19 as IPL suspended indefinitely

The Australian cricketing legend, working as a batting coach in the IPL, returned two positive tests.

Australian cricket champion Mike Hussey has tested positive to COVID-19, as the Indian Premier League shuts down amid reports that the virus has spread to all the teams in the tournament.

Hussey, who is in India working as a batting coach for the Chennai Super Kings, returned the positive resu late on Tuesday.

Super Kings bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji has also returned a positive test, along with several other players.

Former Test batsman Mike Hussey.

Mike Hussey during a Sydney Thunder training session.

Hussey was tested twice with both of the Australian’s results coming back positive.

Hussey’s brother David, another former Australian cricketer who’s coaching at IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, last night tweeted “Shattered!” following the announcement the competition would be indefinitely suspended.

Shattered!

— David Hussey (@DavidHussey29) May 4, 2021

The move came after an outbreak across multiple teams, including the Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kinds, Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Dehli Capitals.

The competition was reportedly set to be moved from Delhi to Mumbai after a week’s hiatus, however, a statement from the IPL said participants will be free to leave the bubble to return to their families

Australian and international participants have been ordered into immediate isolation after more positive cases were detected and amid fears the virus may have spread more widely.

It is the worse nightmare for the cricketers and organisers.

Australians players, coaches, officials and commentators face the threat of jail sentences if they return home immediately, although the Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed on Tuesday there was no intention to apply the measures his government announced late Friday.

UPDATE: The Indian Premier League Governing Council (IPL GC) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in an emergency meeting has unanimously decided to postpone IPL 2021 season with immediate effect.

Details - https://t.co/OgYXPj9FQypic.twitter.com/lYmjBId8gL

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 4, 2021

The players — who have been in a strict biosecurity bubble — have been told they must go into isolation for four days and pass three negative tests before they are allowed to leave their hotels. Internationals have been told to go home to their families by organisers, but the Australians are stranded.

The government has banned any flights from India to Australia until May 15.

Former Test opener Michael Slater, who launched a passionate attack on the Prime Minister on Monday, had flown to the Maldives over the weekend and that option is open to the 30 odd Australians.

There is also talk of the group ordering a charter flight to Dubai.

The Australian broke the news of the new positives yesterday and things moved rapidly from there.

Pace bowler Pat Cummins revealed the reality of life in India for the players when he spoke to Fox Sports on Tuesday night, before the tournament was suspended.

 “Up until now I felt incredibly safe in the bubble they created,” he said. “Arriving we had to do seven days quarantine, tests every two days, we had to wear masks in the hotel, literally the only people we have seen are hotel staff who are getting tested every day and members of our team.”

Cummins said he was shocked to hear about big fines and possible jail terms for Australian citizens returning from India.

“Once we flew out from Australia we knew we faced 14 days quarantine coming home, so you always feel that little bit further away from getting home, but as soon as that hard border shut obviously no one has ever experienced that before.

“It added a little bit of anxiety for some of the Aussies over here but hopefully it all opens on May 15 and we are able to get back.”

Players were moved by the sight of bodies lined up to be burned at overworked crematoriums as they made their way to games in Delhi.

Cummins who donated $50,000 to help India cope with the crisis said he was rocked by the decision to slam the door on players and moved by the scenes in the country.

The latest development came after it was revealed Sunrisers Hyderabad player Wriddhiman Saha had the virus a day after the Kolkata Knight Rider confirmed bowlers Varun Chakravarthy and Sandep Warrier tested positive.

Saha is staying in the same hotel as David Warner and is believed to be in the next room.

The franchise said he had tested positive two days earlier and indicated he’d been ill with a fever that has now passed.

A fourth player rumoured to be positive is in Ricky Ponting’s Delhi side, which also features Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis.

The Sunrisers were, incredibly, scheduled to play the Mumbai Indians in Delhi on Tuesday night, but that game was cancelled late in the afternoon and then the entire tournament suspended with no indication when or where it would resume.

“The BCCI does not want to compromise on the safety of the players, support staff and the other participants involved in organising the IPL. This decision was taken keeping the safety, health and wellbeing of all the stakeholders in mind,” cricket authorities said in a statement released Tuesday night.

“These are difficult times, especially in India and while we have tried to bring in some positivity and cheer, however, it is imperative that the tournament is now suspended and everyone goes back to their families and loved ones in these trying times.

“The BCCI will do everything in its powers to arrange for the secure and safe passage of all the participants in IPL 2021.”

The suspension comes a week after IPL boss Hemang Amin reassured foreign players the biosecurity bubble was “totally safe”.

Indian coach Ravi Shastri had told Gerard Whateley on SEN earlier this week that the IPL bubbles were the safest place in India, but the virus is rampant.

It is hard to see how India can host the ICC T20 World Cup later this year after this.

Ponting’s Delhi franchise, where James Hopes is fast bowling coach, have been isolated because they were the last side to play Chennai Super Kings, who had three positives among support staff.

There were suggestions the IPL would move all its matches to Mumbai, where infection rates have dropped from the catastrophic levels of recent times, but this now seems unlikely.

‘Postponed, not cancelled’

BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla has said the IPL 2021 would resume soon as he insisted it had been postponed indefinitely but not cancelled.

that the decision on the resumption of the second half of the league stage will happen soon.

“I want to make it clear that IPL 2021 has been not cancelled. It has been suspended, it has been postponed, it has been deferred, so it will happen. The remaining part of this year’s IPL will happen. But in due course, when the covid situation improves, a decision will be taken about it,” Shukla told Star Sports.

“Few players wanted to leave the country. They had spoken to their franchisees and the franchisees also confided with us. But not many players were willing to leave the country. But keeping that in mind, and obviously, there is a panic-like situation, if people are scared, we have to look at that aspect also and we have to take steps accordingly. So, that’s why keeping their concerns in mind, their families’ concerns in mind, we have taken this decision,” Shukla explained.