Plus: England refer to Ravi Shastri as 'patient X' after public book launch, while India players worry about jeopardising IPL
www.telegraph.co.uk
The India players signed a letter at midnight on Thursday telling their board they would not be playing the fifth Test at Old Trafford due to fears over covid,
Telegraph Sport understands.
After a day of frantic calls and meetings between the players, the BCCI and the ECB, the match was cancelled at the 11th hour on Friday with thousands of fans already in Manchester and heading to the ground.
Senior India players met last night and despite reassurances from the ECB about the covid protocols, decided to stand together with many fearing a further spread of covid could prevent them from playing in the IPL which restarts in the UAE on Sept 19.
There are now high-level talks between the ECB and BCCI over whether the match was forfeited by India.
The row over forfeiture or cancellation has huge ramifications for the ECB. If the match was forfeited by India then the ECB are covered by insurance for losses of around £40m, in the same way they would be if the game was forfeited for the death of a monarch or a terrorist attack.
But if the match was cancelled by Covid, the ECB are not covered by insurance leaving them with a huge whole in their finances, a year after losing £16m.
The ECB are furious that India’s head coach, Ravi Shastri, attended a book launch in London last week along with 150 members of the public. He was the first member of the India party to test positive. The book launch had not been cleared by the ECB’s covid compliance department.
The BCCI are refusing at this stage to forfeit the match and accept liability. It would mean the series is a 2-2 draw.
The matter could end up being resolved by the International Cricket Council’s dispute resolution committee.