ECB denied Virat Kohli’s plea for a postponement of the Manchester Test.
According to DNA, Team India captain Virat Kohli requested that the England and Wales Cricket Board postpone the Manchester Test by a few days because to the COVID-19 issues. The ECB, on the other hand, voted down the captain’s appeal and decided to postpone the game at Old Trafford indefinitely. That is also due to the IPL 2021 tournament that is coming up, some sources have suggested.
On Wednesday, India’s second physiotherapist, Yogesh Parmar, tested positive for COVID-19. This caused several Indian players to get uncomfortable about playing in the fifth Test. Before the match, Kohli was said to have warned that infections may emerge despite the initial negative test results within the Indian camp. The match was set to begin on September 10, as the fans wanted to see some more brilliant live cricket, as seen in the first four games.
Kohli also stated that India would have been without key strategists for the Manchester Test due to head coach Ravi Shastri and a few other staff members being down with COVID-19. Only Vikram Rathour, the Indian team’s batting coach, was there for the fifth Test.
The ECB and Lancashire County Council are expected to lose a lot of money
Following that, the BCCI office bearers approached ECB authorities to request that the game be postponed by a few days. However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) refused to comply with their request. Around two hours before kickoff, the decision to postpone the game indefinitely was made.
The ECB and Lancashire Cricket are likely to lose millions of pounds if the Manchester Test does not happen. The BCCI proposed to play either a Test or two limited-overs matches in the 2022 season as compensation.
It was also stated that Indian cricketers declined to participate in the 2021 Indian Premier League’s second leg, which is slated to begin on September 19 in the United Arab Emirates. Because of COVID-19, the BCCI had to cancel the competition in May.
The statement that was made by the ECB recently and how it impacted the result of the Test series
In regards to the Manchester Test, the ECB released a statement on Friday, September 10 to make the announcement. The two boards will work together to find a time slot for the Test match.
“The BCCI and ECB discussed numerous options for playing the Test Match, but the outbreak of Covid-19 among the Indian team contingent caused the cancellation of the Old Trafford Test Match. In recognition of the BCCI and ECB’s excellent partnership, the BCCI has offered the ECB a rescheduling of the cancelled Test match. Both boards will endeavour to establish a time when this Test match may be rescheduled.”
What next with regards to this last game and the upcoming tournament, IPL, which could be the actual reason why the Test could not be postponed at all
The last Test match of this five-match series has been indefinitely postponed right now. The players have moved on and are preparing for the IPL 2021, second phase. The tournament will be resuming on the 19th of September.
The teams are ready to go and so would be the players. It will be a fight for a playoff spot and the tournament is still quite open for upsets. The sides could go up and down the table, depending on how they play. There are still a lot of spots left for grabs, with barely any favourites.
To add to that, the change of personnel will also impact the tournament as a whole. The balance of teams could be impacted as well. This will definitely make a major impact, as teams try to regain the momentum in the business end of the IPL campaign. With the Indian players already oozing with confidence, it should be a brilliant spectacle to watch once again.
Let’s wait and watch how the tournament progresses now. The fans will be delighted to watch live cricket happen yet again. It’s been quite a while that they waited for the tournament to resume and now the tournament will grab all the attention in the days to come. Time for the big boys of cricket to start producing and making a name for themselves.
