MUMBAI: The first day of the fifth Test between England and India that was scheduled to begin at the Old Trafford in Manchester now stands cancelled.
Another round of RT-PCR Tests has been called for the players, following which, a fresh call will be taken later in the evening if Day Two of the Test can go ahead.
Between Thursday night and Friday morning, the BCCI and the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) participated in a series of meetings that lasted until midnight and resumed at sunrise, UK time.
All this while, the ECB maintained the following: A) Delay Test by two days; B) Forfeit the Test.
The BCCI consulted players who in turn said a categorical no to the idea of forfeiture. “Play it at a later date,” they suggested. That would’ve ideally meant BCCI agreeing to the delay in playing the Test.
However, should the Test match get delayed even by 24 hours, it puts Phase-2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL), scheduled in the UAE, at grave risk. Franchises have been camping in the UAE for close to three weeks now and have a bubble ready where players from the Indian team were supposed to join after the fifth Test.
Further, broadcast plans for the IPL, the finances of the league, the season’s commercial strategy, etc, have already been laid out and those tracking developments say, “it’s too late to make any changes to that schedule”.
The IPL cannot be delayed because it will then clash with the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup which begins a couple of days after the scheduled IPL final.
Therefore, postponing this fifth Test match, even by a single day, would have a cascading set of repercussions and take a toll on multiple properties and plans being set in motion.
Further, coming back to the Team India camp, two things have clearly come to the fore: A) Players don’t want to risk Covid and participate in this Test at a time when they realise there’s been an active case around them the last 48 hours; B) The BCCI administration has been divided over cancellation and postponement.
Those in the know, and even those with an industry perspective, say “players’ safety is of primary importance. Everything else is secondary. On top of it, they are with their families. Nothing is above the safety of individuals. If the Test can’t be postponed, cancel it”.
A bigger worry for the players is the gestation period in case of contracting Covid, which takes anywhere between 48 hours to a week to show in test results. “How can they take the risk,” say those tracking developments.
While Day One of the Test gets postponed, the BCCI and ECB will continue with their meetings until the fate of this Test match is sealed once and for all.
