England cricketers test negative for COVID-19 in Chennai

All England squad members touring India have tested negative for COVID-19 following tests on their arrival in Chennai on Wednesday. The England team arrived in Chennai on a chartered flight from Sri Lanka and were tested at the airport.

An official confirmed to IANS that all the English players have tested negative, and the tests will be conducted every third day in the lead-up to the series.

Earlier this month, England all-rounder Moeen Ali had tested positive for COVID-19 after the side reached Sri Lanka for their two-Test series. The 33-year-old had to self-isolate and played no role in England’s 2-0 Test series win in Sri Lanka.

India, England enter bio-bubble

Both India and England arrived at The Leela Palace by Wednesday evening and entered the bio-bubble. According to reports, Indian captain Virat Kohli is expected to arrive by late Wednesday evening.

📍 Chennai, India@root66 and the team have arrived in India ahead of our four-match Test series 🇮🇳🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 pic.twitter.com/GT06p9Ru4u

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 27, 2021

The teams will begin practice on February 2 at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, the venue for the first two Tests.

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Squads:

India Squad for 1st and 2nd Test: Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur.

England Squad for 1st and 2nd Test: Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes (vc), Rory Burns (wk), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Foakes (wk), Zak Crawley, Daniel Lawrence, Dominic Sibley, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, James Anderson, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Olly Stone.

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Schedule:

February 5-9, 2021: First Test, Chennai

February 13-17, 2021: Second Test, Chennai

February 24-28, 2021: Third Test, Ahmedabad

March 4-8, 2021: Fourth Test, Ahmedabad

March 12, 2021: First T20I, Ahmedabad

March 14, 2021: Second T20I, Ahmedabad

March 16, 2021: Third T20I, Ahmedabad

March 18, 2021: Fourth T20I, Ahmedabad

March 20, 2021: Fifth T20I, Ahmedabad

March 23, 2021: First ODI, Pune

March 26, 2021: Second ODI, Pune

March 28, 2021: Third ODI, Pune