The Indian trio of Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham and Yuzvendra Chahal has returned to India after recovering from Covid-19 in Sri Lanka, ESPNcricinfo reported. They had to take a longer route back home via the Maldives as Sri Lanka and India do not have a commercial direct flight route due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the report said further.
They took a flight to Male and entered India in Kochi before travelling to their respective destinations. Gowtham travelled to Bengaluru while Chahal and Pandya went to Mumbai.
Krunal Pandya was the first one among the three to test Covid-19 positive during the T20 series against Sri Lanka. There were as many as eight players who came in close contact with the all-rounder and later on, Chahal and Gowtham returned Covid-19 positive.
Pandya’s contraction of the infection followed by isolation of the other eight players had weakened the Indian side and they had to face their first series loss to Sri Lanka since 2007 in the T20 format.
Among the eight who were deemed closed contacts of Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Prithvi Shaw were to travel to the United Kingdom to bolster the Indian Test squad against England. The isolation in Sri Lanka delayed their departure and they could travel to the UK only on special provisions granted by the UK government for athletes.