Veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has not travelled to the United Kingdom along with his teammates for the one-off ‘fifth Test’ after reportedly testing positive for COVID-19.
As per reports, the 35-year-old is currently in home quarantine in Chennai and will only join the squad after meeting all protocol requirements.
Earlier, the Indian team had left for UK on June 16 for the one-off ‘fifth Test’ against hosts England.
Even if Ashwin recovers in time for the Test match, slated to begin on July 1 at Edgbaston, Birmingham, he will surely miss a practice match against Leicestershire.
Earlier in 2021, the Indian team had declined to play the fifth and final Test of the series follwoing a Covid-19 scare in their dressing room. The then head coach Ravi Shastri and team physiotherapist too had got infected and as a result, the touring party didn’t wanted to play the game.
Later, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah had said that it was a joint decision with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to cancel the fifth Test.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) along with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have jointly decided to call off the 5th Test Match scheduled at Manchester in ongoing India’s tour of England 2021. 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. 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 statement had said.
Meanwhile, the other members of the squad has already reached Leicester and have also kicked-off their training under supervision of bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and batting coach Vikram Rathour.
On the other hand, head coach Rahul Dravid, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer have also reached London after completing their T20I assignment against South Africa. They are likley to travel to Leicester on Tuesday (June 21).
The Ireland-bound India squad, led by all-rounder Hardik Pandya, under VVS Laxman will leave for Dublin on either June 23 or 24 .
The one-off Test will be followed by a three-match T20I series between the two sides, beginnnig on July 7. The T20I series will then be followed by a three-match ODI series, beginning on July 12.