India vs England: Fifth Test likely to go ahead after all Indian players in UK test negative for COVID

Manchester: All the 21 players of the Indian Test squad have tested negative for COVID-19, a development that clears the decks for the fifth Test against England to proceed as scheduled from Friday after the uncertainty triggered by a positive case in the visiting contingent.

The entire Indian group had to undergo RT-PCR tests after assistant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

The Indians had already lost their head physio Nitin Patel, who is currently in isolation after testing positive along with head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun in London.

“All the players have returned with negative test,” a senior BCCI source told Press Trust of India.

Earlier, there was uncertainty about the fifth Test going ahead after India cricket team’s junior physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for COVID-19. Parmar’s positive result came after the Indian team was forced to cancel its practice session on Thursday following positive tests of head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun.

This had led BCCI president Sourav Ganguly to remark that he was unsure whether the fifth and final Test against England will go ahead or not

“We don’t know if match will happen at the moment. Hopefully we can get some game,” said Ganguly at the book launch of ‘Mission Domination’ in Kolkata.

Parmar testing positive had left the team without a physio since the main physio Nitin Patel already in isolation after Shastri contracted the virus during the Oval Test.

England vice-captain Jos Buttler had, earlier on Thursday, said that he expected the fifth and final Test against India to proceed as scheduled. The hosts need to win the final Test at Old Trafford.

“I don’t know too much, to be honest, at the moment. At present we are expecting the game to go ahead. Things are all fine in our camp. We are looking forward to the game,” Buttler said during a media interaction .

(With inputs from agencies)