'Don't go pointing fingers' - Kevin Pietersen, Michael Vaughan ask ECB to not be hypocrites, remind South Africa tour cancellation

England’s former batters Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan have both weighed in their opinion regarding the cancellation of the final Test of the Pataudi Trophy in Manchester in the wake of a positive case in the Indian camp, as their assistant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for Covid-19 on September 9.

After a rather dramatic chain of events, the final encounter was cancelled, with a potential rescheduling on cards. While the abrupt cancellation of the closing encounter has attracted furious reactions from many, both Pietersen and Vaughan have opined that England had themselves adopted the same route last year, when their South Africa tour was called off following a Covid-19 outbreak in both teams’ camp and hotel staff.

“India have let English Cricket down!!! But England did let South African Cricket down!!!’, read Vaughan’s tweet, while Pietersen added: “England left the tour of SA for Covid scares & cost CSA plenty, so don’t go pointing fingers!”.

Echoing similar sentiments, former India batter Wasim Jaffer wrote: “England were within their rights back then and so are India now. If anything, India honoured their commitment and completed the Oval test despite entire coaching staff getting positive during the game.”

BCCI-ECB in talks for potential rescheduling

Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in a September 9 press release expressed their commitment towards the rescheduling of the Test, after having “jointly decided with the ECB to call off” the final Test.

“The BCCI and ECB held several rounds of discussion to find a way to play the Test Match, however, the outbreak of Covid-19 in the Indian team contingent forced the decision of calling off the Old Trafford Test Match,” the release read.

In lieu of the strong relationship between BCCI and ECB, the BCCI has offered to ECB a rescheduling of the cancelled Test match. Both the Boards will work towards finding a window to reschedule this Test match.

The BCCI has always maintained that the safety and well-being of the players is of paramount importance and there will be no compromise on that aspect.

The BCCI would like to thank the ECB for their co-operation and understanding in these trying times.  We would like to apologise to the fans for not being able to complete an enthralling series.”