As the blame game over cancellation of the fifth and final Test between India and England at Manchester continues, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly has defended Indian players, saying that they were dead scared.
Dismissing theories that Team India’s decision was due to the IPL, Ganguly said that it was, indeed, because of the COVID-19 scare that hit the Indian camp.
“The players refused to play, but you can’t blame them. Physio Yogesh Parmar was such a close contact of the players. Being the only one available after Nitin Patel isolated himself, he mixed freely with the players and even performed their COVID-19 tests. He also used to give them a massage, he was part of their everyday lives,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
“The players were devastated when they came to know that he (Parmar) had tested positive for COVID-19. They feared they must have contracted the disease and were dead scared. It’s not easy staying in a bubble. Of course, you have to respect their feelings,” Ganguly stated.
Assistant physio Parmar was found to have contracted the coronavirus the day before the final Test was scheduled to start. And though all the players tested negative for COVID on the eve of the game, Virat Kohli & Co. did not want to risk taking the field on Friday.
Former England captains Michael Vaughan and David Gower have said that IPL was the sole reason why the Indian players refused to play the final Test.
The 14th edition of the popular cash-rich T20 league, which had to be stopped midway in early May due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, is set to resume in the UAE on September 19.
Some cricket pundits believe that because of the cancellation of the Test, Indian players reached the UAE in time to serve a six-day quarantine before being eligible to play for their respective franchises.
The England and Wales Cricket Board will incur huge losses due to the Test being a non-starter. It is not even known at this point whether International Cricket Council will declare India 2-1 winners of the series or announce a 2-2 result.
Also Read: Fact Check: Will India Be Declared Series Winners After Final Test Cancellation?
Ganguly said that the BCCI and ECB will decide on a way forward vis-à-vis rescheduling of the Test.
“The Old Trafford Test has been cancelled. They (ECB) have incurred a lot of losses and it’s not going to be easy on them. Let things settle down a bit, then we can discuss and decide. Whenever it’s held next year, it should be a one-off match since it cannot be a continuation of the series anymore,” felt Ganguly.
