Won't compromise on India's chance to win series, want rescheduled Test as fifth, not one-off: Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI President, clarified on September 13 that the resuming edition of the Indian Premier League 2021 has no relation with the cancellation of the final Test of the Pataudi Trophy, which he stated was cancelled purely because of fear of Covid-19 in the Indian camp. Ganguly further ruled out the chances of the contest being treated as a one-off fixture in the future.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have requested ICC to intervene through a letter directed to the apex board’s Dispute Resolution Committee. The decision regarding the status of the encounter, as to whether it is postponed, abandoned, or forfeited, lies solely under the jurisdiction of the ICC, which is yet to break silence on the matter.

However, Ganguly clarified BCCI’s stand of not letting go of India’s chance to win their first series since 2007. “We want the series to be completed as this will be our first series win (in England) since 2007,” Ganguly was quoted as saying mykhel.com.

“The BCCI maintains that Test cricket is the ultimate format and we won’t compromise it for anything,” he made it clear.

Notably, having recorded wins at Lord’s and The Oval, India led the series 2-1 going into the final Test, which was cancelled in the wake of increasing Covid-19 cases in India’s camp. The cancelled encounter has fiscally dented Lancashire and ECB, and only in case the ICC terms the encounter as “forfeited” would the ECB be able to invoke their insurance claims.

However, ICC adjudging the encounter as “abandoned” would be a double whammy for the ECB as that would not only mean that India wins the series 2-1, but ECB receiving no insurance claim as they do not have game’s “abandonment” as an insured peril.

Ready to play extra ODI and T20Is: Sourav Ganguly 

On being asked whether the BCCI has offered ECB additional games during India’s 2022 tour, Ganguly said: “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.”

“There is a precedent of series being cancelled because of COVID-19 in the past 18 months. The BCCI cancelled its home series against South Africa last year which cost us around 40 to 50 million pounds,” the former captain said.

“We understand how detrimental it is to the game in terms of spectators and viewers’ interest (TV and OTT) especially when the series has been of such high quality. Test cricket is BCCI’s foremost priority,” he added.

Resting senior players and fielding fresh team was not an option

Ganguly further stated that the players could have not been pushed beyond a further point.

“No that [fielding a second-string unit] wasn’t an option. If you see the Yogesh Parmar was a close contact of every player. So obviously that was a cause of worry. It was something nobody had any control over and they (the players) had families travelling with them,”

“We are extremely disappointed that this series had to be called off. The only reason is the COVID-19 outbreak and players’ safety. We could only push them to a point.

“But the pandemic is so severe that one can only go that much distance,” he explained.