India players refused to play fifth test v England, says BCCI chief

A message is seen displayed on a big screen after the match was cancelled due to members of the India staff contracting COVID-19 Action.

REUTERS

India's cricket board chief Sourav Ganguly said their players refused to play the fifth and final test against England due to COVID-19 concerns and denied that the upcoming Indian Premier League had played any part in the decision.

The Old Trafford test was cancelled last Friday barely two hours before its scheduled start as the tourists, who were leading the series 2-1, failed to field a side after their physiotherapist tested positive for COVID-19.

"The players refused to play but you can't blame them," Ganguly told Indian newspaper The Telegraph on Monday.

"Physio Yogesh Parmar was such a close contact of the players ... he mixed freely with the players and even performed their COVID-19 tests.

"He also used to give them a massage, he was part of their everyday lives.

"The players were devastated when they came to know that he had tested positive for COVID-19. They feared they must have contracted the disease and were dead scared."

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has suggested that India's players were "petrified" of testing positive ahead of the IPL, which resumes on Sept. 19 in the United Arab Emirates.

But England and Wales Cricket Board CEO Tom Harrison has said the cancellation had nothing to do with the IPL and Ganguly echoed those comments.

"The BCCI will never be an irresponsible board. We value other boards too," he said, adding that the match is likely to be held as a one-off match next year.

However, ESPNcricinfo later reported Ganguly said the BCCI wanted the test to be considered the final one in the series.

"We want the series to be completed as this will be our first series win (in England) since 2007," Ganguly was quoted as saying in the report which cited a PTI interview.

"We are ready to play extra ODI and T20Is and that's not an issue. Just that the test match that will be played later will be the fifth match of the series."

Reporting by Manasi Pathak and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Christian Radnedge