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It remains to be seen how the chessboards can come out of a window to play the match.
The fifth and final test in Manchester has been postponed indefinitely following the Covid-19 outbreak within the Indian team. In a statement released on Friday, BCCI said it was in talks with the ECB to organize the match at a later date.
“The BCCI and the ECB have held several rounds of talks to find a way to play the test match, however, the Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian contingent forced the decision to cancel the Old Trafford test match.
“Instead (sic) of the close relationship between the BCCI and the ECB, the BCCI proposed to the ECB to reschedule the canceled test match. Both councils will endeavor to find a window to reschedule this test match.”
It remains to be seen how the Tables can find a window for the game, although it may be cut out when India returns to England next year for a scheduled limited series.
This development appears to have ended the possibility of India losing the test match, although more developments are expected.
News that the game would not start as originally planned came hours before the scheduled draw. “Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India is unfortunately unable to field a team,” the ECB said in a statement. “We send our sincere apologies to fans and partners for this news, which we know will cause immense disappointment and inconvenience to many.”
As a result of ongoing conversations with the BCCI, the ECB can confirm that the fifth LV = insurance test at Emirates Old Trafford, which is due to start today, will be canceled.
– England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 10, 2021
It is understood that the players and both councils suspect another case to emerge from this round of testing, and as a result, the BCCI told the ECB that India would struggle to release a game XI for the fifth. test, which was scheduled to be played at Old Trafford from September 10-14.
A sense of confusion had spread to the Indian camp over the past two days even as the BCCI was in talks with the ECB over whether to continue the series or cancel the final test. As the discussion continued until the middle of the night on Thursday, the Indian contingent was not aware of the decision the BCCI was going to take.
However, it is understood that BCCI has asked players to keep their luggage ready to fly to the UAE for the IPL well ahead of the scheduled departure date of September 15, when the bulk of Indian and English players had to embark on charter flights. join their franchises.
Then Friday morning, a few hours before the official draw time, the Indian camp received a message on the WhatsApp group of its team. The first message read: “The game has been canceled. It is important that each of you stay in your room.” About 10 minutes later, another message appeared on the group: “We cannot arrange breakfast in your room, so if you wish, you can go to the restaurant to have your meal. “
It was not the first time that such contradictory messages had circulated in the Indian camp. After the whole team returned negative RT-PCR tests on Thursday, it is understood that during one of the meetings with the BCCI, several players gathered in the same room for the virtual chat.
In their discussions with the BCCI, the players also expressed concern about the situation having an impact on their families. Most Indian players travel with their families, including Virat Kohli, Rohit, Ajinkya Rahane, Pujara, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant, and Umesh Yadav.
The main concern, however, for the BCCI was that they did not want the IPL to be affected given that it starts in nine days. With that in mind, the BCCI discussed the cancellation of the final test, but the ECB has reportedly made it clear that it will interpret any refusal to play as a confiscation. BCCI was keen to avoid such a scenario, as not only would it see England squaring the show, but it could expose BCCI to lost revenue claims from broadcasters and venue. It is believed that the lost income could total up to £ 30million.
The terms of the World Testing Championship competition state that a Covid-19 outbreak within a team is an acceptable reason for a test to be abandoned – not lost. With the WTC points system now calculated based on the percentage of points contested, a series of four tests instead of five would not have a negative impact on a team’s point total.
Had the boards not agreed to the postponement, the result of the series could have been in the hands of ICC match referee Chris Broad based on whether the ECB accepted India’s fears of a larger outbreak in their camp as “acceptable non-compliance” under the WTC rules. A cancellation would have given India a 2-1 series victory, and a forfeit resulted in a 2-2 draw.
Currently, India have bagged 26 WTC series points while England have 14 of the 48 points available.
Nagraj Gollapudi is the editor-in-chief of ESPNcricinfo
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