IPL 2021: Delhi Capitals await Anrich Nortje’s COVID test result; Kagiso Rabada joins

Kagiso Rabada. Pic/AFP; (right) Anrich Nortje. Pic/PTI

Delhi Capitals' South African speedster Anrich Nortje will not be available for the team's second IPL match against Rajasthan Royals on Thursday as his COVID-19 test reports are still awaited. However, the good news for DC is that Kagiso Rabada has cleared his RT-PCR tests and has joined the team's training session. There are reports that Nortje has tested positive but Delhi Capitals management hasn't yet come out with any official statement.

As per the IPL SOP, all players who have a positive result are tested once again in order to ensure that the first RT-PCR outcome wasn't a false one. Nortje and fellow paceman Rabada had travelled together and reached Mumbai on April 6. They were supposed to be available from the second game onwards, after the completion of their seven days of hard quarantine and a negative RT-PCR test result. Now it looks like only Rabada will be available for selection as DC tweeted a picture of his first training session.

"At this point, we only know that Anrich Nortje's results are awaited as he is in quarantine. We can only tell you further after we get the test results," a DC source told PTI on the condition of anonymity. It is understood that the franchise is waiting before making an official announcement as there has been an earlier instance of a false positive case. Kolkata Knight Riders' batsman Nitish Rana was the player involved in that case.

Rana had first tested positive after joining the KKR camp but his next RT-PCR result turned out to be negative. As of now, Delhi Capitals' Axar Patel is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 before the start of the tournament. Patel hasn't yet fully recovered from the virus. Royal Challengers Bangalore's Devdutt Padikkal also tested positive but recovered in time to be available for the team's second game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

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