India vs England 5th Test at Manchester cancelled due to coronavirus threat

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Friday morning announced that the fifth and final Test match between India and England, to be played at Old Trafford in Manchester, was cancelled owing to the threat of coronavirus following the outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the Indian camp.

The ECB said in a statement released on Friday which was revised later on, ”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.”

With the series placed at 2-1, the fifth and final Test would have provided England an opportunity to level up with India and draw the series instead of losing the Pataudi Trophy, with India looking firm favourites to record their first ever-series victory in England in 14 years.

India had won the second Test match at Lord’s by 151 runs and had bettered the margin in the fourth Test at The Oval which they won by 157 runs, having lost the third Test at Headingley by a huge margin of an innings and 76 runs. 

The first Test was also in the firm grip of the Indian cricket team which stood 152 runs away from victory with a full day’s play left on the final day but inclement weather did not allow a single ball to be bowled, forcing a disappointing draw at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

India has the supreme run throughout the series despite facing through some serious troubles with their batting lineup, with their vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane enduring a horrid time in the middle. While the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli continued to wait for their next Test centuries, both the senior batsmen chipped in with vital contributions at crucial moments in the series to keep India afloat. 

The series was, however, dominated with the bat by England captain Joe Root who made 564 runs at an average of 94 in four matches with the help of 3 centuries and 1 half-century. India opener Rohit Sharma was the second highest run-scorer of the series, getting 368 runs at 52.57 in four matches with 1 century and 2 half-centuries. 

KL Rahul was third in the list with 315 runs in four matches with the help of a century and a half-century each. Pujara made 227 runs at 32.42 with two fifties whereas Kohli made 218 runs from four matches at 31.14 with two half-centuries for himself.

England fast bowler Ollie Robinson was the most successful bowler in the series with 21 wickets in four matches at 21.33 with two five-wicket hauls, followed by Jasprit Bumrah with 18 wickets, James Anderson with 15 wickets, Mohammed Siraj with 14 wickets and Mohammed Shami with 11.

It all began with India head coach Ravi Shastri attending a book launch in London along with India captain Kohli sometime during the series. On the third day of the fourth Test, Shastri was found COVID-19 positive and his close contacts, India bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and head physiotherapist Nitin Patel were all sent into isolation.

On the morning of the fourth day of the fourth Test, both Shastri and Arun were found COVID-19 positive in a RT-PCR test which forced them into 10-day quarantine. While Patel returned a negative test, he remained within his room in London and travelled separately to the venue for the fifth and final Test, Manchester.

In the buildup to the fifth and final Test, India were rocked further on Wednesday this week when their assistant physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar was found COVID-19 positive, forcing the cancellation of the training session and also putting players into their hotel rooms until further notice. 

The Indian team spent the entire day on Thursday, the buildup day to the final Test, confined in their hotel rooms while the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials and India captain Kohli as well as senior player Rohit Sharma went on in some intense deliberations with the board in context to the future of the match.

The reports in the media suggested on Thursday that the ECB had suggested BCCI to forfeit the match, which would have helped England to end the series with a result of 2-2, saving them the ignominy of not losing a series against India at home in 14 years.

However, England could not have averted the fact that it is for the first time in 20 years since 2001 that they are ending their home series season without a series victory. Earlier this season, New Zealand had handed England 1-0 defeat in a two-match series.

In the meantime, the rest of the Indian camp went for COVID-19 test and all of them returned negative, which lifted the hopes of having the Manchester Test after all. But players were concerned about their safety and health following the events in the last few days, which perhaps led to the cancellation of the final Test as ECB said in their release that India were not able to field a team for the game.