India Under-19 skipper Yash Dhull, his deputy Sheikh Rasheed and four of their teammates tested positive for COVID-19, forcing them out of the Group B World Cup game against Ireland, in Tarouba, Trinidad, on Wednesday.
Besides Dhull and Rasheed, batter Aaradhya Yadav, Vasu Vats, Manav Parakh, and Siddharth Yadav were also found infected with the virus, because of which India, who defeated South Africa by 45 runs in their opening match, barely managed to field eleven players against Ireland.
"Three Indian players had tested positive yesterday and were already isolated. In the morning before match our captain and vice-captain also tested positive in Rapid Antigen Test which is not conclusive," a BCCI official said.
"So they, as precautionary measure, were pulled out. The players included skipper Yash Dhull and his deputy Shaikh Rasheed. We only had 11 available players and six isolated," the official added.
While skipper Dhull and Rasheed featured in the opening game against South Africa, Aardhya was not part of that game.
Nishant Sindhu led the team in the absence of Dhull.
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