The IPL begins on April 1st, but the competition has now confirmed the continuation of their 2022 Covid policy that will see players verified to have Covid-19 forced to isolate for a minimum of six days before returning to their teams.

This decision sees the IPL as the most stringent of the major leagues worldwide, as the others permitted their athletes to participate despite testing positive.

The important clarifications are that despite this rule continuing, teams will no longer have to compete from bubbles, as they have in the last three editions, and testing will only be performed on players showing symptoms.

The IPL revealed its medical guidelines to the teams last week, stating the exact protocol players will have to follow and the reasons why.

"While there has been a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases in India, we still have to be careful of the emerging strains which are becoming a concern at regular intervals," the guidelines read.

"Positive cases must be isolated for maximum seven days. Positive cases will not be allowed to participate in any match or any form of activity/event during the period of isolation.
"From day five, they can undergo a RT-PCR, provided they must be must be asymptomatic without any medication for 24 hours. Once the first result is negative the 2nd test must be done 24 hours apart. Only after obtaining two negative RT-PCR tests 24 hours apart i.e. day five and day six, can they rejoin the group."
Players continuing to test positive after seven days must show two negative tests at least 12 hours apart before returning to the competition.
This announcement raises the question of if similar measures will be imposed upon the national teams in the ICC World Cup in India later this year. However, no such rules were in place for the T20 World Cup last year, suggesting the ICC aren't interested in the idea.