'The whole country is open': Ravi Shastri defends his book launch event linked to COVID-19 outbreak

Ravi Shastri has defended the launch of his book – Star Gazing: The Players in My Life – in the United Kingdom during England vs India Test series, an event which was blamed by a few for COVID-19 cases in the Indian camp. According to reports , the book launch took place on 1 September and a few members of the Indian cricket team along with Shastri attended the event. It was alleged that Shastri and team members didn’t seek permission from either BCCI or ECB to attend the crowded event. “The whole country [United Kingdom] is open. Anything could have happened from Test One,” Shastri told to Mid-day during an interview. During the fourth Test, Shastri tested positive for COVID-19 and other support staff had to be isolated. Bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar also turned out to be positive. Before the start of the fifth and final Test in Manchester, team’s junior physio Yogesh Parmar also tested positive for coronavirus. The Indian players were not comfortable in taking the field despite testing negative for COVID-19. [caption id=“attachment_9217181” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of India head coach Ravi Shastri. AP[/caption] After discussions between boards, the Test was ultimately called off with India leading the five-match series 2-1. The England and Wales Cricket Board has now written to the ICC to decide on the outcome of the series. Shastri, however, praised the performance of his team in the series, calling it the “best summer of cricket”. “It’s been the best summer of cricket England has seen in a long time certainly from an Indian cricket team. It’s COVID times, awesome summer though. The boys were fantastic either side of the Thames,” Shastri said. He added that the team’s brilliant show in Australia and England gave him “more job satisfaction” than anything else.