Australian pacer Kane Richardson, quarantined briefly for suspected COVID-19 before being found negative, said he thought it was all a joke at first.
“I was at risk because I’d travelled overseas within (the previous) two weeks and I had one of the four symptoms, so that was the reason I got tested,” said the 29-year-old. “I thought it was all a joke at the time, but (the team doctor) was adamant it wasn’t.” The fast bowler said he was not expecting a positive test result.
“He (team doctor) spoke to various people on the phone to make sure he was doing the right thing and got the biggest swab I’ve ever seen out and stuck it into the back of my nose and back of my mouth, so it wasn’t a pleasurable experience but that was the protocol so I was happy to go along with it.
“I wasn’t expecting a positive result and, thankfully, that’s what happened. I’m all good and I got the ok to go outside and in the fresh air again,” said Richardson.
Seventeen Australians, including Richardson, hold IPL contracts. The lucrative league was supposed to start on March 29.
“We’re just waiting to hear (on IPL). A lot of the blokes have opinions — ‘it’s going to get cancelled’, this and that — but again it can change in a day or a week, so I’ll just sit by the phone and get ready to play for the 15th of April at the moment — that’s what I’m thinking.
“(The Australia squad) were all sitting around chatting about it. It’s happened out of nowhere. A lot of us were going to be away from now till the end of the IPL, so to now be sitting at home with absolutely no idea when the next game of cricket is going to be for any of us, just shows how quickly this has grown.”
