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Posted on September 10, 2021
1 min readLast updated: February 11, 2026
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MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -The fifth test between England and India at Old Trafford was cancelled on Friday after India were unable to field a team, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said.
“Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India are regrettably unable to field a team,” the ECB said in a statement.
The ECB initially said in the statement that India had forfeited the match but later retracted that.
India were 2-1 up in the series heading into the final match but the test was thrown into doubt on Thursday after their physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
India head coach Ravi Shastri had tested positive during the fourth test at The Oval and has since been isolating with bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physio Nitin Patel.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
The fifth test was cancelled because India was unable to field a team due to fears of a further increase in COVID cases inside the camp.
The uncertainty arose after India's physiotherapist tested positive for COVID-19, which followed head coach Ravi Shastri's positive test during the fourth test.
The ECB initially stated that India had forfeited the match but later retracted that statement.
India was leading the series 2-1 before the cancellation of the final match.
Along with Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar, and physio Nitin Patel were also isolating due to COVID-19.
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