EXCLUSIVE | We are investigating all the possible angles: Additional DCP

IPL 2021 suspension | MS Dhoni assures CSK teammates: "I'll be the last person to leave the hotel"

Taking responsibility for his teammates and support staff amid uncertain times of Covid-19, Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni assured his teammates that he will leave the team hotel only after all of them go back to their respective safely. He said that foreign players and support staffs should be sent home before Indian players head back with him being the last man to go home in a virtual meeting with the team. “Mahibhai said that he will be the last person to leave the hotel. He wanted foreigners to leave first, then the Indian players. He will be taking the last flight tomorrow when everyone reaches their home safe and secure,” The Indian Express report quoted a CSK member as saying. As per the same report, Dhoni is slated to go back to his home in Ranchi on Thursday, May 06 evening after Super Kings arranged two chartered flights from Delhi took CSK players went to their homes. The first chartered flight took players from Rajkot and Mumbai in the morning while another flight will carry players and staff to Bangalore and Chennai. Notably, MS Dhoni’s parents fell ill to Covid-19 in his home town Ranchi and were admitted to the hospital for further treatment.

Suspension of IPL 2021 'unfortunate, but right decision,' says SRH mentor VVS Laxman

Former Indian batsman and now a mentor of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, VVS Laxman has said that the decision of suspending the tournament this year was an unfortunate but right decision considering the circumstances following the breach of biosecure bubbles. "Unfortunate as it might appear, the right decision was taken to suspend the IPL following the breach of biosecure bubbles of four franchises across two cities,” Laxman wrote in a column for Times of India. He said the fact that carefully managed biosecure bubbles which are considered very safe and secure in nature got breached shows that the novel coronavirus does not allow people to let their guard down, even for a millisecond. "In these unprecedented times, physical safety and mental health are of paramount importance. That even carefully structured bubbles can be breached is another lesson in our battle against the coronavirus -- to never let our guard down, even for a millisecond,” he added. He said that the Sunirsers Hyderabad side was full of confidence that their biosecure bubble was intact while they were moving from one city to another—in their case, from Chennai to New Delhi. But, as cases of Covid-19 started surfacing in the other camps led to apprehensions in the SRH camp which was followed by one of their own Wriddhiman Shah returning a positive result for the virus. “We had full confidence in the protocols that had been put in place even when we moved from one city to another, but once we learnt of the positive tests in the Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings camp, our apprehensions mounted,” Laxman opened up on SRH thought process. Laxman extended best wishes to Wriddhiman Saha and at the same time wondered how did the wicketkeeper-batsman contract the virus while living in a highly secure biosecure bubble.

There was no bio-bubble breach during IPL 2021: Sourav Ganguly

The IPL 2021 was suspended with immediate effect earlier this week after there was a rise in the COVID-19 cases within the franchise teams. In a chat with The Indian Express, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly has talked about organising the IPL at this hour, bio-bubble breach and the future plans for holding this edition of the tournament later in the year. Ganguly insisted that he doesn’t really think that having the IPL was a problem initially because when the decision was taken, the situation in the country wasn't alarming. “No. When we decided, the number was not even close to this. We did the England tour successfully,” he said. The former India captain further said that there were talks about taking the IPL 2021 to UAE. But as there wasn’t any major rise in the cases during the month of February, it was then decided to hold the cash-rich league in India itself. “It was discussed, but the (COVID-19 cases) in India in February was (virtually) nothing. It has just gone through the roof in the last three weeks. Before that it was nothing. We discussed about the UAE but then decided to do it in India,” he Ganguly said. Speaking about resuming the tournament, the BCCI president said that it would be an ‘early call’ to make. “We will see. It’s too early to say,” the former left-handed batsman said. When asked about whether there was a bio-bubble breach, Ganguly denied the claims and clearly said that the report that the board had got was that there was no breach of the bubble. “I don’t think so. The report we got is that there’s no breach of the bubble. How it happened is very difficult to say. How so many people are getting (infected) in the country is also very difficult to say,” Ganguly said. KKR’s Sandeep Warrior and Varun Chakravarthy, SRH’s Wriddhiman Saha, DC’s Amit Mishra and CSK’s bowling coach L.Balaji had tested positive for COVID-19 after which the IPL 2021 was suspended.

IPL 2021: Anti-Corruption unit catches two people at Arun Jaitley Stadium suspected of pitch siding

The Indian Premier League might be suspended for the 2021 edition as of now, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) is still very active and following two cases it has lodged with Delhi Police regarding people of questionable characters being cited in the Feroz Shah Kotla at the Arun Jaitley Stadium during the Delhi leg of the tournament. "One of my ACU officers caught a person and handed over the details to Delhi Police,” ACU chief Shabir Hussein Shekhadam Khandwawala told PTI. “While that particular offender managed to flee leaving behind his two mobile phones, ACU lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police," he added. Narrating the incidents Khandwawala said, "On two separate days, these people (suspected people working for bookmakers) managed to get access to Kotla.” The ACU chief then further detailed that one of the persons fled with his phone in the custody of the ACU. “The one who fled the scenes came in the garb of a cleaner. However, we have all his details as he was employed for the tournament. His Aadhar Card details have been handed over to Delhi Police," he said. Explaining how the ACU officer caught the fake employee, who was most probably ‘pitch siding’, Khandwawala said, "He was standing (inside Feroz Shah Kotla premises) in a secluded area all by himself and so one of our officers approached and asked him: 'What are you doing here?' He said: "Main apne girlfriend se baat kar raha hoon" [I am talking to my girlfriend]. My officer then asked him to dial the number he was talking to and then asked him to hand over the phones. Just when he was going through the contents of his phone, the guy fled from the spot.” Saying that the suspected individual might be supplying sensitive information to bookmakers, Khadwala added, “We needed to inform the Delhi Police. Delhi Police has responded positively and thus next instance two people were arrested." Pitch siding is generally used to reveal important information about the pitch which is generally used by digital bookies for bets on toss decision and runs to be scored in first innings etc.