Varun ‘Little Under The Weather’, Sandeep ‘Doing Fine’: KKR CEO

KKR CEO Venky Mysore has elaborated on the testing procedure the team will follow over the next week.

(Photo: BCCI)

COVID-19 hit KKR’s bio-bubble on Sunday with two players, Varun Chakaravarthy and Sandeep Warrier, testing positive following IPL’s routine checks. The BCCI has since rescheduled the team’s Monday fixture against RCB while the Kolkata franchise go into safety mode with all players and everyone associated with the team moving into a five day quarantine.

Late on Monday evening, KKR CEO Venky Mysore released a detailed statement with a health update of the two players and also elaborating on the precautions the team has taken.

“Sandeep, in particular, is doing fine. No temperature, no other symptoms, and he is feeling good. Varun is still a little under the weather, but better than yesterday and both of them are in good spirits."

According to the statement, the entire team along with co-owner Shah Rukh Khan had a meeting over a video call ‘to take stock of how everyone was feeling within the camp’.

Varun Chakaravarthy is one of the players who tested positive on Sunday.(Photo: BCCI)

Varun, Sandeep Isolating on Different Floor

"We found out approximately 24 hours ago about Varun testing positive, so the immediate steps we took was to isolate him, and then later on in the night when we got test results which also involved Sandeep, we put them on a different floor with a different Air Conditioning ducts system to make sure others are appropriately protected,” said the release, quoting Mysore.

The CEO then described the steps taken by the rest of the team, who had all tested negative.

“We have asked everybody in the bubble (players, support staff, management, hotel staff and service staff) to quarantine, so they are isolated in their rooms,” he said.

“The whole idea right now is that it will take perhaps five days, and we are a little fortunate that we have a bit of a break right now because our next game is on the 8th of May (vs Delhi Capitals). So five days of quarantining starting yesterday would take us through the 6th of May, and we had already gotten into a protocol of daily testing,” he added.

(Photo: BCCI)

When Can KKR Play Again?

According to Mysore, the team can complete their stipulated five day quarantine and be out in time for their next fixture that is scheduled for 8 May.

"The target completion date of this five day with this daily testing is the 6th of May," Venky Mysore said.

"The team doctor was on the call as well, and his assessment is that if everything goes well, we should be able to get the results sometime later in the day on the 6th of May which means that potentially we could even get out that evening for a practice subject to what the coaches want to do and then get ready for 7th and 8th depending on when the rescheduled games would potentially take place," said Mysore indicating that the players could go straight from quarantine to a match or get out one day earlier and be able to attend a training session.