Delhi Capitals’ off-spinner R Ashwin has taken a break from IPL 2021 to support his family in the fight against Covid-19.

Soon after the Delhi Capitals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in a Super Over thriller, Ashwin tweeted: “I would be taking a break from this year’s IPL from tomorrow. My family and extended family are putting up a fight against #COVID19 and I want to support them during these tough times. I expect to return to play if things go in the right direction.”

Ashwin, who hails from Chennai, was already in the city for the IPL game. Tamil Nadu is currently witnessing a worrying surge in coronavirus cases.

The IPL is being played in neutral venues by all the franchises, with DC moving to Chennai for two matches. The Chennai leg had come to a close with the team moving to Ahmedabad for their next set of matches.

Tamil Nadu’s single-day coronavirus cases tally crossed the 15,000 mark on Sunday, pushing the total case count to 10.81 lakh till date, PTI reported. As many as 82 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 13,557 so far, the health department had said.

India on Sunday reported a record-breaking 3,49,691 new cases in a day, taking the total number of infections to 1,69,60,172 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. This is the highest ever single-day rise in cases reported by any country so far, and the fourth consecutive day when the country has set such a grim global record. For the first time, 2,767 deaths were registered. The toll is now 1,92,311.

Update: On 30 April, Prithi Ashwin tweeted an update.