Mumbai, Oct 27 (IANS): Four players of Mumbai's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy team on Wednesday tested positive for COVID-19 and were forced to withdraw from the squad hours before they took off to take part in the tournament.

The Ajinkya Rahane-led side was on its way to Guwahati on Wednesday morning when the players were found to be Covid positive. Sarfaraz Khan, Prashant Solanki, Shams Mulani and Sairaj Patil were found to be Covid positive at the Mumbai airport.

As per Cricbuzz report, all four were sent home and told to self-isolate for seven days. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) will announce their replacements soon.

The SMAT starts on November 4 at Lucknow, Baroda, Delhi, Vijayawada and Haryana besides in Guwahati but the players have to report a week before to undergo five-day pre-tournament quarantine.

Mumbai, who are placed in Elite Group B with Karnataka, Bengal, Baroda, Chhattisgarh and Services, will play their league matches of the domestic T20 tournament in Guwahati and they start their campaign against Karnataka.