CHENNAI: The fifth Test in Manchester looks set to go ahead as scheduled after the entire Indian team tested negative in the latest RT-PCR tests taken after their assistant physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar contracted Covid-19 on Wednesday.
The late-night development hasn’t been received well by the Indian players, who see the Test as potentially high-risk after a few of their regulars in the XI were treated by Parmar as recently as Wednesday — the day he developed Covid symptoms.
A final confirmation is expected on Friday morning when the teams are scheduled to undergo a lateral flow test. The BCCI medical team is also closely monitoring whether anyone else develops any symptoms. It is understood that the BCCI did explore whether the Test can be cancelled with the ECB, but with the entire team testing negative, the local health guidelines permit the match to go ahead.
While the ECB believes this is a good enough reason for the final Test to go ahead with England needing a win to square the series, the BCCI fears that in case there are any more positive cases, then it could have implications on the resumption of the IPL in the UAE from September 19.
Also if India decides to not play the Test, the ECB is understood to have informed the BCCI that it would consider the match as forfeited. Soon after Parmar’s result came, the Indian team’s practice session was cancelled and the entire team was placed under isolation. Even though the local guidelines don’t prevent the match from going ahead, the players’ concerns are understandable as some of them have families by their side.
It is reliably learnt that India captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri, who himself is under isolation in London after testing Covid-19 positive, explained the team’s concern to the top brass of the BCCI and left the decision to them.
That Parmar, who tested negative in the tests taken in London after Shastri tested positive, developed symptoms only after reaching Manchester is not lost on the players. Keeping the concerns in mind, the BCCI and ECB have decided to place the teams in a separate wing of a hotel, where access to the general public will be denied. Although there were few restrictions for the players, this series is not being played in a strict bio-bubble and teams were allowed to visit public places.
After senior physiotherapist Nitin Patel was placed under isolation after being identified as a close contact of Shastri, Parmar has been handling the team since the fifth day of the Oval Test. Even though Patel has since rejoined the team after returning negative in the RT-PCR test, he is still under isolation in Manchester.
Under these circumstances, Parmar attended to the likes of Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami, all of whom had niggles. It is understood that Parmar developed symptoms on Wednesday, after India’s first training session at Old Trafford. Should the Test start as scheduled and if there is a Covid outbreak, then the playing conditions permit the match to be abandoned.