India VS England 5th Test: Fifth And The Last Match Of The Series Is Postponed Due To Covid-19 Outbreak In Indian Camp!

India VS England 5th Test: Fifth And The Last Match Of The Series Is Postponed Due To Covid-19 Outbreak In Indian Camp!

A piece of sad news for the fans as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has officially called off the 5th test between India and England starting from Friday due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camps. Significantly, Indian congiment has reported positive cases among the support staff. 

The fifth and the final test between England and India has been called off or you can say that the match has been postponed. According to the sources claimed that the confirmation to development has been made and they said more test results will be taken into consideration before taking a call. Thus, the match will not start today. ECB sends out an official statement on their Twitter account.

Here you can see the tweet, 

Following ongoing conversations with the BCCI, the ECB can confirm that the fifth LV= Insurance Test at Emirates Old Trafford, due to start today, will be cancelled.

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 10, 2021

The source said to ANI that more test results will be taken into action before starting the match. The reason is that ahead of the fifth and final Test against England, Parmar tested positive for COVID-19 in Manchester. This had led to Team India’s training session for Thursday afternoon being canceled. 

Though there are no worries in the opposite camp of England. Wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler told to press that everyone in the English team is fine and the hosts are looking forward to the fifth test match. 

Buttler said in a virtual meet that they don’t know too much about it at the moment. It would be naive to speculate on what’s going on. At the moment they are fully expecting the game to go ahead and they are preparing that way so fingers crossed the game will go ahead. Things are fine in their camp and they are looking forward to the game. 

Why Indian staff tested positive even after strict bio-bubble?

This whole story started when India head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar returned positive results to their RT-PCR tests during the fourth Test. Currently, all are in isolation and can come out only after passing two tests as negative. 

BCCI and the Indian team’s decision of attending a book launch in London just two days before the Oval test has resulted in this. According to ECB, the Covid-19 positive results in the Indian camp are largely due to this particular episode. 

The positive results were confirmed during the fourth day of the fourth test between the two nations. Although the remaining members of the Team India contingent had undergone two Lateral Flow Tests, one on Saturday night and another on Sunday morning. The members upon returning negative COVID reports were allowed to proceed for Day 4 of the fourth Test at The Oval against England. 

Former cricketer and commentator Dinesh Karthik also tweeted showing worry over the 5th match, 

Looks like there won't be any play today guys . #noplay #ENGvsIND

— DK (@DineshKarthik) September 10, 2021

Well, there are rumors that the match can start from Saturday if both boards get agreed. Till then we have to wait for the official confirmation.