RCB's Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa leave IPL 2021 for 'personal reasons' amid COVID surge

Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa have pulled out of IPL 2021 for 'personal reasons' and will be returning to Australia, the team informed on Monday. Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa departure from the marquee tourney comes amid a steep rise in the num,ber of COVID cases and deaths reported across India as the country battled the second wave of pandemic. RCB took to Twitter to break the news of the Australians pulling out of IPL 2021 and informed that the team respected the decisions taken by Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa and that the duo would be unavailable for the remainder of IPL 2021. Earlier, Rajasthan Royals pacer Andrew Tye also pulled out of IPL. 

Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa pull out of IPL 2021

Ashwin takes break from IPL 2021 to help kin fight COVID

Delhi Capitals' spinner Ravichandran Ashwin informed on Monday that he would be taking a break from IPL 2021 to support his kin & extended family in the fight against COVID pandemic. Ashwin's decision to leave the marquee tourney mid-way comes amid a steep rise in the number of COVID cases reported all over India as the country battles the second wave of the pandemic. Ashwin broke the news of his break from IPL 2021 shortly after Delhi Capitals picked up a win against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday and informed that he may return to IPL 2021 if the situation improved in the future. 

India logs 3,52,991 new COVID cases in 24 hours

With 3,52,991 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, the highest so far, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 1,73,13,163 while active cases have crossed the 28-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll increased to 1,95,123 with a record 2,812 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 28,13,658 comprising 16.25 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 82.62 per cent. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,43,04,382. The case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.13 per cent, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past  60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of 1.50 crore on April 19. According to the ICMR, 27,93,21,177 samples have been tested up to April 25 with 14,02,367 samples being tested on Sunday.