Stay indoors, limit public appearances: BCCI tells players in England

After Indian skipper Rohit Sharma tested positive for COVID-19, the BCCI has taken note of the situation and advised players in England to limit their public appearances and hangouts and stay indoors.

Indian batter Rohit Sharma tested COVID-19 positive following a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) conducted on Saturday. Rohit, who was playing in India's ongoing four-day warm-up game against Leicestershire, has gone into quarantine.

Though England has lifted bio-bubble and isolation-related barriers, COVID-19 is still not over and players have failed to completely protect the side from the virus.

A source from BCCI told ANI, "The board has scolded some players over their habit of hanging out in public. It also seems some players went in public and clicked pictures with fans, which could be dangerous. We had told them to stay careful but they still often roamed around in the city which is not required, so we asked them again to take precautions." It was seen that star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were hanging out in public and pictures of them surfaced on the internet in which they were seen clicking pictures with their fans. Recently, a picture of wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant also surfaced in which he was seen clicking pictures with fans in the crowd, which caused BCCI to get angry with the team.

The four-day practice match against Leicestershire ended in a draw.

India will lock horns with England for the rescheduled fifth Test at Old Trafford starting on July 1.

The rescheduled fifth Test is counted as the fifth match of India's 2021 series in England, which the visitors lead by 2-1. The fifth Test was postponed at the last minute following a COVID-19 outbreak in 2021.