The Indian team has suffered a huge blow ahead of the women’s cricket debut at the Commonwealth Games 2022 as a couple of cricketers have stayed back in the country after testing positive for Covid-19. India squad left for Birmingham on Sunday morning but two players had to stay back.

Team India will be commencing their Commonwealth Games campaign against Australia on Friday before taking on Pakistan on Sunday. India will also face Barbados in their final Group A match. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had earlier confirmed that one member of the touring party tested positive. The squad trained at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

ALSO READ: India Ropes In Paddy Upton Again As Mental Conditioning Coach

As per the quotes in PTI, one of the officials of the Indian Olympic Association said, “A second player has tested positive for COVID-19 and it happened before departure. Both the players remain in India.”

Both the players can join the Indian team only after they test negative, according to protocol. All games, including the final, will be played at Edgbaston. The organizers have said that tickets for the semifinals and final are already sold out. The team will be having its first training session later on Tuesday.

Ahead of the team’s departure, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur had spoken about how much playing in the Commonwealth Games meant to her and the team. “We don’t get to experience this often so really looking forward to it. The opening ceremony will be a special experience for all of us.”

ALSO READ: Ajit Agarkar Questions Shikhar Dhawan’s Tactics In The Second ODI

Indian squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Sabbhineni Meghana, Taniyaa Bhatia (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Deepti Sharma, Rajeshari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana

Standby players: Richa Ghosh, Simran Bahadur, Poonam Yadav