
The fifth test of the England India Test series at Old Trafford in Manchester has been cancelled, despite players from the Indian team testing negative late on Thursday. The earlier reports stated that the first day of play will be postponed.
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
ANI had also confirmed the earlier report by talking to a source and confirmed these reports as more RT-PCR test results are going to be consulted today so that a call can be taken tomorrow regarding this match’s status but now the test has been cancelled and this news was confirmed by the English Cricket Board a few minutes back.
The speculation is rife now of what will be the status of this test. Initially, ECB’s statement had a forfeiture mentioned which would have allowed England to draw the series at 2-2 but now, they have removed it keeping the speculation alive of what will happen
Indian team junior physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive on the Eve of the fifth and series-deciding final test match at Manchester. Parmar’s positive test had forced all the players to take an RT-PCR test in their rooms as the practice session was cancelled. Those tests have largely come negative but they are still waiting for more tests to come in. The head coach, Ravi Shastri and the bowling coach, Bharat Arun have already tested positive during the fourth test match. Along with that, fielding coach R. Sridhar and main physio Nitin Patel has also contracted the virus.
There was speculation that the test match will be cancelled but now it has come true and the test match will no longer be played as there have been concerns raised due to the outbreak. All the teams were double vaccinated but there was no strict bio-bubble, as such, as life in the United Kingdom has been almost back to normal.
India had already taken an unassailable lead in the test series with a 2-1 lead as they won the fourth test by 147 runs.