India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar came down hard on the British and Indian media and news outlets who have been blaming the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) for the cancelation of the fifth Test match between England and India which was to be played in Manchester from September 10.
The Test match was canceled just hours before the toss after the Indian players refused to take the field amidst COVID concerns as all of their coaching and support staff was in quarantine after testing positive for the virus. This included Ravi Shastri, B Arun, R Sridhar of coaching staff, and both physios, Nitin Patel and Yogesh Parmar.
Parmar incidentally tested positive two days before the Manchester Test was to begin and though all of the Indian team players tested negative in the RT-PCR tests, they were apprehensive of someone testing COVID positive in the duration of the Test match, which may lead to further delay in the Indian Premier League’s (IPL 2021) resumption which cascades into complications in T20 World Cup 2021 both of which are to be played in the UAE.
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“In the aftermath of the fifth Test between India and England at Old Trafford, Manchester, being canceled the finger-pointing has begun. This is a favorite pastime for the ‘know alls’ who are invariably waiting for the slightest chance to take aim at someone,” Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Hindu’s Sportstar website.
He added: “Not surprisingly, the British newspapers have blamed the Indian players for their so-called lax attitude even though none of the Indian players have tested COVID positive. The IPL is a favorite target and, while the jealousy factor from overseas is expected, it is baffling when some Indians have a go at what is acknowledged as one of the world’s top sports leagues.”
Gavaskar further pointed out that none of the British media has criticized the English Premier League being played despite COVID cases not being under control in England, or that media in Spain, Italy, Germany, or South America are going after their sporting leagues.
However, he felt that Indian media blaming the IPL via the ‘know alls’ have all the so-called inside information, shouldn’t be happening and that when it comes to the country we should all be together.
Gavaskar further added that while British media conveniently forgot that England pulled out of the South Africa tour a year back because two members of the staff of the hotel they were staying in tested positive, Indian media and people shouldn’t be blaming IPL given the circumstances.
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He wrote: “It’s imperative that we in India don’t start blaming our players since one of their close contacts — the physio — tested positive. In such a scenario it’s understandable that they were nervous as this virus has unknown and mysterious ways of striking and every individual is naturally worried about his or her health.
To blame the IPL makes no sense since if a player is positive he can’t travel to UAE and play and whether the Test match was played or not he would be out till he recovered fully and so wouldn’t be able to play in the IPL anyway.”
He further said that administrators from both ECB and BCCI should do what’s best for the game and for their countries and called BCCI’s offer to stage the Test at a later date a good one.
“The BCCI’s offer to stage the Test at a time convenient to both countries is terrific and that’s how good administrators should function looking at what is best for both countries and not getting swayed by jingoistic views. These are tough, uncertain times and we can try and overcome this by staying together and helping each other. There is simply no other option,” Gavaskar signed off.
(Sportstar/The Hindu inputs)
