IND vs ENG | Rescheduling the cancelled Test would be the best thing to do, feels Sunil Gavaskar

09/10/2021

Sunil Gavaskar has said that rescheduling the cancelled fifth Test would be the best thing to do given that England also came back to India to play two-match Test series in 2008 after 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks. The match was cancelled hours before the start of play on Friday due to Covid-19.

Recalling the gesture of the ECB back in 2008, when the England cricket team left the tour midway after the Mumbai terror attacks but returned back again in two weeks to complete it, Sunil Gavaskar said that resheduling the Manchester Test would be the best thing to do.

The statement from the batting great comes after the fifth and final Test between India and England in Manchester from September 10 was called off hours before its start due to Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian camp. Head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar tested positive during the fourth Test, while assistant physio Yogesh Parmar returned a possitive result ahead of the fifth Test.

"Yes, I think that (rescheduling the cancelled Test) would be the correct thing to do. Look, we, in India, should never forget what the England team did in 2008 after the horrific attack, the 26/11. They came back. They would have been perfectly entitled to say 'we don't feel safe. We are not coming back'," Gavaskar said on Sony Sports.

"Never forget that Kevin Pietersen led the team, and he was the main man. If KP had said, no I don't want to go, that would have been the end of the matter.

"It was because KP was willing to go and he convinced the others, the team came and we had that fantastic Test match in Chennai where India chased 380 to win on the last day.

"Don't forget, the gesture of the ECB has to be remembered," Sunil Gavaskar added.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah confirmed on Friday that a proposal to reschedule ill-fated Test match was given to the ECB.