Former England skipper Michael Vaughan on Saturday (September 11) said that a rescheduled Test between England and India would be a hollow game of cricket, calling it a 'ridiculous' idea.
His comments come after the fifth Test between the two teams was called off at the eleventh hour following a fresh COVID-19 case in the visiting camp.
India’s assistant physio Yogesh Parmar contracted the virus on the eve of the fifth Test at Old Trafford, due to begin on Friday (September 10). Earlier, senior physio Nitin Patel had returned positive during the fourth Test alongside head coach Ravi Shastri and two other support staff members.
After the match was cancelled, BCCI offered the ECB to reschedule the match at a later date.
"A rescheduled Test match next year would be ridiculous. It would be a hollow game of cricket. The reason why Test cricket is great is because a five match series takes place over the course of six weeks. You sweat, blood and tears to win. The emotions and adrenaline that go into that are why it is the hardest form of the game," wrote Vaughan in his column for The Telegraph.
"The players would have tossed and turned worrying about how they were going to score runs or take wickets in this match. To think you can come back for a one Test next year and it be the same is simply ridiculous. It will just be a game to fulfil a television contract. It will be meaningless. This series is over," he added.
Vaughan feels England players will be blaming India for flexing their muscles.
"England will be spewing. The players will be blaming India for flexing their muscles. But there is a food chain in world cricket. India are at the top. Their administrators know it, and the players even more so. But England are more powerful than South Africa and that is why they flexed their muscles last year. Australia are also more powerful than South Africa so when they saw England pull out of that one-day series they felt able to cancel their tour."
While Vaughan sympathized with the players in bio-bubble, he also pointed out that the protocols were relaxed in the past few weeks.
"I understand players have gone through tough times in bubbles but actually over the last few weeks protocols have been relaxed significantly. For the past few weeks in England the India team have been doing what they like, going out and about and having a nice time. But all of a sudden, a week before the IPL, they have decided it is too much to play a Test match. It is just people using their power and it is the cricket supporter who suffers."
Vaughan said administrators wanted the game to go ahead but the players were not ready mentally.
"This is not about boards or administrators. This is players making the calls. Administrators always want games to happen. They have sold broadcast and commercial deals as well as thousands of tickets.
"But now they worry about the mental wellbeing of players and being held accountable further down the line if one of them has a breakdown and it is traced back to them. Once players decide they do not want to play there is not a lot they can do about it. Boards are in a precarious position," he concluded.
(With IANS inputs)
