Kevin Pietersen was quick to point out that England had abruptly pulled out of their tour to South Africa mid-way last year amid covid-19 fears. This comment from the former captain comes after the Manchester Test between India and England was called off on Friday after apprehensions made by the Indian players due to a covid-19 outbreak in their camp.
Yogesh Parmar, India’s assistant physio, tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. While all the players were tested negative on Thursday, the players remained worried. Finally, the BCCI and the ECB agreed to cancel the game. The players are now expected to leave soon for the UAE, where they will play the remainder of the IPL 2021.
Kevin Pietersen asked people to not point or blame the Indian players to not play the fifth Test. He highlighted how the England team in December last year, flew back home from South Africa before playing the scheduled three ODI matches, which cost the host board plenty. The ECB, now, are facing losses to around INR 200 crore due to the cancelled of this Test.
“England left the tour of SA for Covid scares & cost CSA plenty, so don’t go pointing fingers!” Kevin Pietersen tweeted.
https://twitter.com/KP24/status/1436242834378698755
BCCI offers to reschedule the match:
The BCCI has offered to play a rescheduled Test to the ECB while also stating that it was “jointly decided” by the two boards to call off the game.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) along with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have jointly decided to call off the 5th Test Match scheduled at Manchester in ongoing India’s tour of England 2021,” the BCCI said in a statement.
“The BCCI and ECB held several rounds of discussion to find a way to play the Test Match, however, the outbreak of Covid-19 in the Indian team contingent forced the decision of calling off the Old Trafford Test Match.
“In lieu of the strong relationship between BCCI and ECB, the BCCI has offered to ECB a rescheduling of the cancelled Test match. Both the Boards will work towards finding a window to reschedule this Test match.”
India will tour England next year for white-ball matches; perhaps, they could play this game then. The outcome of this series, though, remains unclear yet. India are leading the series at the moment by 2-1.
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