‘I've not got it at my book launch’ – Ravi Shastri on testing COVID-19 positive amidst the England Test series

Team India’s head coach Ravi Shastri has had to face a fair bit of criticism in recent times after he attended his book launch in London before the fourth Test against England at the Kennington Oval. Soon after, he tested positive for COVID-19 and reports started emerging that he contracted the coronavirus after attending the gathering at the book launch.

However, the 59-year-old refuted the claims, stating that none of the attendants at the launch panty caught COVID-19. The veteran mentioned that he might have come in contact with the ungodly virus during the third Test at the Headingley in Leeds. The Mumbai-born Shastri said that he doesn’t have any regrets of going to his book launch.

I have absolutely no regrets, says Ravi Shastri

“There were about 250 people there and no-one got COVID from that party. I’ve not got it at my book launch because it was on the 31 (August) and I tested positive on September 3,” Shastri was quoted as saying in an interview with The Guardian.

“It can’t happen in three days. I think I got it in Leeds (where the third Test was held). I have absolutely no regrets because the people I met at that function were fabulous,” he stated.

“And it was good for the boys to get out and meet different people rather than constantly being in their rooms. At the Oval Test, you were climbing stairs used by 5,000 people. So, to point a finger at a book launch?” Shastri added.

After Shastri, India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar also tested positive for the virus. But it was India’s second physio Yogesh Parmar’s COVID positive test result that set the cat amongst the pigeons in the Indian camp.

In the end, the fifth and final Test at the Old Trafford in Manchester had to be postponed for an indefinite time period. Indian senior players showed apprehensions about taking part in the game after which the decision was taken. The fate of the game is yet to be decided.

As far as Shastri is concerned, his tenure as Team India’s head coach is set to end after the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE.