Cricket teams and their ultimate misjudgment in times of coronavirus

The fallout of the fifth Test suspension between India and England at Manchester over coronavirus fears has been a major sore point. The outbreak of the coronavirus in the Indian team coaching staff grew to such an extent that India did not even have a physio for the Manchester Test. Now, the domino effect of the coronavirus spread was being witnessed. Many analysts claimed that some members of the team were jittery in taking to the field in Manchester.

The England press, notably, slammed the suspension at the last minute. With all the players shuttling out of the country and joining IPL duties, the criticism stemmed from the fact that money was at stake here. But, can England and the players who are criticizing India for forcing the match to be suspended take the moral high ground?

England facing renewed coronavirus surge

The United Kingdom is in the middle of another surge in cases due to the delta variant. The British government has had an attitude that one has to live with the coronavirus. So, people were going about their job as if nothing was happening. In such a situation, the spread of the coronavirus through any medium is possible. When fans were being allowed to capacity at all sporting venues in the UK, this was a recipe for disaster.

Somewhere, someplace, something had to give. The fact that the coronavirus situation in the country happened in the fag end of the fourth Test was a sign that both India and England got lucky. The ground zero of the latest coronavirus surge in the Indian team had been the Book Launch of Ravi Shastri.

Is Ravi Shastri guilty? Yes, he is. But, can he be blamed for it? Imagine, after months of living in a bio-bubble, the authorities state you are free to do anything you please. Now, safety and security is a subjective thing that varies. Many individuals are confident they will not get the virus. One must remember, the Indian contingent had both their shots taken before their arrival and during their stay in England.

Amidst all this, it must be stated that the suspension of the match was not due to the IPL. It was the uncertainty of the coronavirus.

England cannot be on high moral ground in Cricket affairs

For all the press that is criticizing the Indian players and the management, there is only a fraction of the truth. The book launch happened, the backroom staff tested positive. There is absolutely no denying that at all. But, to accuse the Indian players of prioritizing the IPL over Tests? That is a bit too harsh.

If England’s media and analysts can add a bit more stress to their convenient thinking, they would have remembered certain incidents. England’s own cricket team scurried out of South Africa when there were cases in the series that took place in 2020. But, most of the cases turned out to be a ‘false positive’. Not a single nation batted an eyelid or had an outrage when teams like Australia and New Zealand canceled the series against Bangladesh due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Yes, the surge was there even at that point. But, what about a bio-bubble at that time? Australia, in fact, did the utmost brazen act and canceled the series against South Africa. This was at a time when cases had reached their lowest ebb in the country. To make matters worse, the Australian players decided to come to India for the IPL when India was the worst-affected country in the world with over 425K cases every day.

Australia’s effort was made to look like their board was after the money. India’s situation on the other hand was different. They were not losing the series. Everyone knew the IPL was five days after the end of the Manchester Test. Yet, the spin doctors managed to show India in a bad light.

Coronavirus forces a misjudgment in Cricket

One can argue that the last-minute cancellations made the situation a farce. Yes, India did start the fire when the book launch happened. But, the United Kingdom was open and people did as they pleased. Why is the criticism not directed at the way how the government is functioning in the United Kingdom in tackling the coronavirus situation?

The pandemic has forced nations to have a misjudgment as to what they should prioritize. With Australia now facing a big surge, there are reports that England might send a weakened side to the Ashes Down Under. With bio-bubble mental health in scrutiny, a diluted Ashes series will not bode well for Test cricket.

India has been in England for four months. For some time, they were in a bubble. They had families. For them, a single case of the coronavirus in the team would have spelled disaster for the side. The IPL could have been thrown in doubt if one player had tested positive in the Manchester Test. The fallout of the series, had coronavirus penetrated, even more, would have been even graver.

Criticism nowadays flies high and wide in times of coronavirus situations. Every nation has failed in tackling the coronavirus. Some have managed to keep it under control, while others have just let the coronavirus surge. Cricket is still trying to adjust to the new normal. One thing is for sure, until the COVID-19 surge eases, restricted access is the way forward.