Rajasthan Royals’ fielding coach Dishant Yagnik recovers from Covid-19, joins team in Dubai

PTI, Aug 29, 2020, 11:14 AM IST

Dubai: Rajasthan Royals’ fielding coach Dishant Yagnik has recovered from Covid-19 and joined his team here ahead of the Indian Premier League after clearing two consecutive coronavirus tests.

The 37-year-old Yagnik had tested positive for the dreaded virus on August 12 ahead of the team’s departure, making it the first such case among the league franchises. The IPL starts on September 19 and will be played across three cities in the UAE.

Yagnik was in his hometown Udaipur when he was tested and was advised to get admitted to a hospital for the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

“14-day quarantine, 2 Negative tests, 1 Fitness test, Fielding coach @Dishantyagnik77 is ready for #IPL2020,” the franchise tweeted on Friday night.

“He arrived here early this morning,” a team official added.

Yagnik, however, will have to stay in self-isolation for six days once he lands in UAE and also need to undergo three more Covid-19 tests before joining the Royals for the tournament which gets underway on September 19.

A left-handed hard-hitting wicket-keeper batsman, Yagnik made 170 runs in 25 IPL games. He made his first-class debut in 2004 and scored 1754 runs in 50 matches at an average of 24.70 with a century and nine fifties.

In 41 List A games, he scored 945 runs at 25.54 with two hundreds and four half-centuries.

On Friday, an India T20 specialist along with at least 10 members of the Chennai Super Kings contingent tested positive for Covid-19, forcing the IPL franchise to extend its quarantine period in Dubai.

The side is yet to issue a formal statement but a league source told PTI that the number of positive cases could be as high as 12.

The 13th IPL, which was shifted to UAE due to rising Covid-19 cases in India, will conclude on November 10.