ENG vs IND: Manchester Test in doubt as another Indian support staff tests Covid-19 positive

Covid-19 struck Indian camp in England has another support-staff member contracted with the virus, leading to the cancellation of the Indian team’s practice before the fifth and final Test in Manchester’s Old Trafford, while also putting the final rubber of the series under doubt. It is understood that the players and other support staff members have been asked to not step out of their hotel rooms until further notice.

The update of another staff member falling prey to the virus comes after India’s head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin Patel have been forced into isolation after Shastri returned a positive lateral flow test, followed by a positive RT-PCR test result in the buildup to the Manchester Test. Though barring Shastri no other member had initially turned a positive result, all of them continue to remain in isolation as a precautionary measure. Later, however, they returned positive results too.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has created a separate bubble for all the team members to ensure a smooth bubble-to-bubble transfer on September 15 keeping in mind the second leg of the Indian Premier League. Given the T20 tournament was halted due to the emergence of Covid-19 cases inside the bio-secure bubble earlier this year in India, it remains to be seen whether the BCCI would be keen to proceed with the fifth Test in Manchester after the latest developments.

As for the support staff members in isolation, it was already made clear that none of them would travel to Manchester owing to their mandatory quarantine protocols – as per the rules set in place in the UK, any person returning a positive RT-PCR must mandatorily practice self-isolation for minimum 10 days.

While how did the virus manage to breach the bio-secure environment has not been confirmed, it is understood that the Indian head coach might have been exposed during a recent book release function that had plenty of members in attendance.

The England-India series has not been conducted in a strict bio-bubble after the situation in the United Kingdom improved in the last few months, with the UK government also relaxing the Covid-19 protocols significantly. Currently, India leads the series 2-1, having handed a 157-run defeat to England in The Oval Test last week.