Ravi Shastri defends book launch, says whole of UK is open

Team India head coach Ravi Shastri has defended his book launch event after the fifth and final Test of the recently concluded five-match series against England was cancelled, stating the United Kingdom (UK) was completely open. Shastri believes that anything could have happened from the opening Test match of the series. The cancellation of the final Test due to a COVID outbreak in the Indian camp resulted in questions being raised about Shastri’s book release function in London where protocols were not followed. The Team India head coach along with bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physio Nitin Patel tested positive, despite all of them being fully vaccinated.

“The whole country [United Kingdom] is open. Anything could have happened from Test One. It’s been the best summer of cricket England has seen in a long time certainly from an Indian cricket team. It’s Covid times, awesome summer though. The boys were fantastic either side of the Thames,” said Shastri as quoted by mid-day.

Decision to cancel final Test taken after discussions between ECB and BCCI

The final Test’s cancellation was first officially confirmed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“Following ongoing conversations with the BCCI, the ECB can confirm that the fifth LV= Insurance Test between England and India Men due to start today at Emirates Old Trafford, will be cancelled. Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India are regrettably unable to field a team. We send our sincere apologies to fans and partners for this news, which we know will cause immense disappointment and inconvenience to many. Further information will be shared in due course,” read the statement from ECB.

“Both the Boards will work towards finding a window to reschedule Test match”

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) followed it up with a release of their own, stating that the cancelled Test match would be rescheduled.

“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 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,” said the BCCI.

“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. The BCCI has always maintained that the safety and well-being of the players is of paramount importance and there will be no comprise on that aspect. The BCCI would like to thank the ECB for their co-operation and understanding in these trying times. We would like to apologise to the fans for not being able to complete an enthralling series,” it added.

Team India were leading the five-match series by a 2-1 margin, with a lack of clarity over the final scoreline.