The ECB had confirmed that the fifth Test between England and India was called off after India couldn’t manage to field a team owing to COVID-19 concerns in the camp.
ECB’s initial statement confirmed that the match had been called off because of Indian "fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp", and that the visitors had forfeited the Test match, however, this part was quickly deleted in an updated statement.
The BCCI issued a statement of their own saying: "In lieu of the strong relationship between the BCCI and ECB, the BCCI has offered to ECB a rescheduling of the canceled Test match. Both boards will work towards finding a window to reschedule this Test match."
However, in a conversation with Sky Sports, ECB chief Tom Harrison said that if there is a rearranged game, the indications are that it would be a standalone fixture rather than the culmination of this five-match series.
"Any rescheduled match would be a standalone match," Tom Harrison, ECB chief executive, told Sky Sports.
Harrison while saying this also mentioned that though they wanted England and India to play a one-off Test match at Old Trafford to give the fans their money’s worth, ECB is not committed to anything as of now.
That now means the outcome of this series would stay as 2-1 to India. That has yet to be confirmed however and nor is the impact on the World Test Championship points known as yet.
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When asked about the result of the series, Harrison said to BBC: "That's not one for today. Today is all about making sure we have fronted this in terms of what has happened, why it has happened, what the situation is with respect to the immediate turn. Thoughts will turn to that soon. That is not a decision for us, it's a decision for ICC to think about in the context of the World Test Championship.
Nobody is trying to score points here. It's about making the right decisions given the context of what's taking place and to be fair to each side. That is all we are asking for and that process will take place over the coming weeks. It is not something that concerns us unduly. We just expect the people that are in place to make those decisions."
(SkySports/BBC inputs)
