IND vs ENG | BCCI offers ECB to reschedule the cancelled Manchester Test, confirms Jay Shah
India were leading the 5-Test series 2-1 before the 5th match in Manchester was called off
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After the fifth and final Test between India and England was called off due to Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian team camp, BCCI secretary Jay Shah confirmed that an offer to reschedule the Test was proposed to the ECB. Notably, ECB in its initial statement said that India have 'forfeited' the match.
Moments after the series-deciding Test between India and England was called off, the BCCI on Friday, released a statement and revealed that a proposal has been made to the ECB regarding the reshcheduling of the fixture.
BCCI preisident Jay Shah said the proposal to reschedule the match was made "in lieu of the strong relationship between BCCI and ECB".
"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.
"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 statement read.Â
"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.Â
"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," the statement further said.Â
The Test match in Manchester was called off less than three hours before the start time. The future of the match was thrown in jeopardy ever since Team India's assiatant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for Covid-19. Earlier, head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar contracted the virus during the course of the fourth Test. However, the Virat Kohli-led team continued with the game and went on to win it by 157 runs to take a 2-1 lead.Â
India players skipped their final training session on Thursday and went into isolation. Their first round of RT-PCR tests have returned negative results.Â
