All Indian players in England test negative, fifth Test likely to go ahead

MUMBAI/KOLKATA : After a chaotic Thursday where the entire Indian contingent had to go through RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 and the fifth and final Test between England and India hung in the balance, the match was finally cleared to go ahead. The Manchester Test, with the series poised 2-1 in favour of India, was thrown into uncertainty earlier when

Yogesh Parmar, the second physiotherapist in the Indian squad tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. The entire Indian contingent was then re-tested on Thursday morning and then advised to stay in their hotel rooms. The team’s practice session at the Old Trafford ground and their pre-match press conference was cancelled.

Hours later, all the tests returned negative results and the England Cricket Board (ECB) gave the green signal for the match.

This was preceded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and ECB locked negotiating the details when it was unclear whether the match would go ahead or not.

A member in the Indian contingent who did not wish to be named said that there were many players who received treatment from physio Yogesh Parmar on Wednesday during training and the contingent was unsure how many of them could be construed as being close contacts.

There were discussions on how the series would be decided if the match were to be cancelled, with World Test Championship points at stake. The same member of the Indian contingent said that England were not in favour of conceding a series defeat at 2-1 with split points of the final Test match and that India had refused suggestions that they agree to consider the Test as forfeited.

There were financial implications at stake for both boards as well. While the ECB stood to lose media rights proceeds if there was no match, the BCCI would not have wanted a misstep with a spread of infections likely to delay the departure of Indian players to the UAE for IPL. All participating players from both India and England are scheduled to depart for the IPL’s UAE biobubble via chartered flights after the conclusion of the Test match.

India favourites

India look favourites to win even though Old Trafford is where India has never won before in nine attempts, and where their World Cup dreams died across two days two years back.

But this has been an extraordinary season of cricket for India, starting with the series win in Australia earlier in the year and a series win in England before the year is out would be nothing short of sensational.

India has a few selection worries to contend with. Ajinkya Rahane’s string of failures remains a concern.

In the bowling department, given that Mohammad Shami should come back after missing the fourth Test and with Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur doing everything to be retained, Kohli has a problem of plenty. Jasprit Bumrah’s workload could prompt a rethink too, given he is set to play the IPL next week, followed by the T20 World Cup in the UAE. All these calculations may leave Ashwin—who was selected for the T20 World Cup on Wednesday—again on the bench.

Joe Root remains England’s biggest hope—he knows he can still dictate the match with his bat. All he needs is some trusted company.