When will 5th Test between India and England be played?

5th Test: The final Test of a riveting Test series had come under the clouds after the assistant Indian physiotherapist tested positive for COVID-19.

ECB (England Cricket Board) and BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) have finally agreed to “cancel” the fifth Test between England and India due to a COVID scare in the Indian camp.

Originally scheduled to begin in a couple of hours in Manchester, the final Test of what has been a riveting series had come under the clouds after assistant India physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday.

With Parmar attending to the Indian players in the absence of physiotherapist Nitin Patel, who himself is undergoing a quarantine period, the possibility for players to test positive was always on the cards.

Fortunately, no other member of the Indian contingent has tested positive as of now. Considering how symptoms can take a few days to occur, continuing with a five-day match was always going to be a risk for all the stakeholders. Furthermore, there have been reports in the media about some Indian players having apprehensions with respect to continuing with the Test match.

When will 5th Test between India and England be played?

It is worth mentioning that both the boards had been in the middle of intense discussions for the last 24 hours or so. It was only then that the ECB eventually released an official statement with respect to cancelling the match.

“Following ongoing conversations with the BCCI, the ECB can confirm that the fifth LV= Insurance Test between England and India Men due to start today at Emirates Old Trafford, will be cancelled.

Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India are regrettably unable to field a team,” ECB said in a statement published on their website.

Readers must note that ECB had initially written about India forfeiting the fifth match which would’ve meant in the series ending in a 2-2 draw. Having said that, ECB then edited their statement to remove the word “forfeit”.

No additional information has been provided as of now. The same means that there is no official update on how the series score will be decided or whether the fifth match will be played in the future or not.

While India are scheduled to tour England for a white-ball series in 2022, whether they will play this Test match then remains to be seen.

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