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Team India ( Image Credit: Twitter)
Day 1 of the fifth Test between England and India has been postponed. The development comes after a member of the Indian support staff, reportedly assistant physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar, tested positive for COVID-19. This was the fifth positive case from the Indian contingent after head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin Patel delivered positive results.
The match was set to go ahead after all the Indian players tested negative for the virus but it is reported that the ECB was not in favour to start the match today. Also, few Indian players were not in favour of the match going ahead. A prominent journalist confirmed the news of match being postponed. Also, Indian cricket Dinesh Karthik, who is also part of the commentary panel confirmed the same. Official confirmation of the same is still pending
Breaking now: #ECB says postpone match by two days.#BCCI opinion divided. One senior BCCI administrator says "cancel Test".
Two senior BCCI administrators say "agree to ECB suggestion of delaying by two days".
Eithwr way play looks unlikely today. Unprecedented!#ENGvsIND
— KSR (@KShriniwasRao) September 10, 2021
NO PLAY TODAY
ok Tata bye bye #ENGvsIND
— DK (@DineshKarthik) September 10, 2021
If the match is postponed by one or two days, it will also mean a delay in the departure of the Indian team to UAE. The players will most probably land in UAE on 16th or 17th September, which will leave them very little chance to rest and prepare for the Indian Premier League (IPL), set to resume on September 19. Also, they may have to serve few days of quarantine as well . BCCI won't like that thus there is a high possibility of the match being called off.