Former England captain Kevin Pietersen reacted to the cancelation of the fifth Test between England and India at Old Trafford in Manchester due to Covid concerns. After lengthy discussions between the ECB and the BCCI since Thursday evening, it was decided to call off the Test match.

It has been confirmed by the ECB that the match was canceled as India was unable to field a side due to COVID concerns. As per reports from other sources, the Indian players were not ready to take the field citing chances of increasing infections if the match was played.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, the Indian team’s assistant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for COVID-19, and India’s training session on Thursday was canceled and all the players underwent RT-PCR Tests. In the evening, the players tested negative for the dreaded virus and discussions began between BCCI and ECB on the way forward.

But as per reports, Indian players, who are here with their families, didn’t want to risk their health further and as per WTC playing conditions, matches can be called off due to COVID concerns.

Therefore after much deliberation, ECB put out a statement that “Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India are regrettably unable to field a team. We send our sincere apologies to fans and partners for this news, which we know will cause immense disappointment and inconvenience to many.”   

Kevin Pietersen was highly surprised at the news of the much-anticipated fifth Test being cancelled and tweeted, “So England v India TEST is CANCELLED due to Covid!!!!  WOW!!!! Wow!!! Wow!!!  Does it mean with 9 days till CSK v MI in Dubai, NO player from each team that’s in the UK will be available if they now have 10 days of quarantining in UK?”

Many of the cricket fans on Twitter, especially from England alleged that BCCI and Indian players were to be blamed for the match being canceled. Also as per reports, ECB had told BCCI that they would have to forfeit the match if they didn’t want to play it and the series will be drawn 2-2.

This was also put out in ECB’s statement, that India had forfeited the fifth Test in Manchester. However, moments after the statement was released, it was rectified and the mention of the match being forfeit was removed entirely.

However, Kevin Pietersen reminded the England fans and experts not to point fingers at others when ECB had canceled an entire tour of South Africa due to Covid concerns causing Cricket South Africa to lose a lot of money.

“England left the tour of SA for Covid scares & cost CSA plenty, so don’t go pointing fingers!,” Pietersen tweeted.