The fifth and final Test between England and India, originally scheduled to begin on 10 September at Old Trafford in Manchester, has been cancelled, England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed.
The decision came after a discussion between ECB and the BCCI following India's assistant physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar returned a positive Covid-19 test two days ago.
The BCCI assured that the five-match series is now ‘paused’ at 2-1. The final match is likely to be played later. ‘Both the Boards will work towards finding a window to reschedule this Test match,’ Jay Shah, BCCI Secretary, said in a statement.
Before that, India’s head coach Ravi Shastri, and his fellow support staff – Bharat Arun, R. Sridhar, and Nitin Patel – have tested positive for the virus during the fourth Test at The Oval. The ECB feared to have ‘further increase in the number of COVID cases’ in both camps, and made the decision not to play any further.
‘India are regrettably unable to field a team.’ the statement further read. ‘We send our sincere apologies to fans and partners for this news.’