IND vs ENG: Former English cricketer Paul Newman blames IPL second phase as reason for cancelled 5th Test: The matter regarding the cancellation of fifth and the final Test between India and England is still fumed up. Recently, former England player Paul Newman pointed fingers at the second leg of IPL as the prime reason behind the scraping off Manchester Test. Though the England veteran understood the COVID marred situation in the Indian camp, he mentioned that the cancellation had to do more with the cash-rich league.
“There is no way this series decider would have been called off on the morning of the first day had the majority of India’s players not been flying to Dubai next Wednesday for the resumption of the richest tournament in cricket,” Newman wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
IND vs ENG: Newman explicitly mentioned that by prioritizing IPL, the visitors didn’t take the field in the final Test. The Englishman said that the Indian players didn’t want to compromise on the IPL in any way.
“No India player with an IPL contract wanted to risk playing in this Test, then testing positive and being forced to stay in England for another 10 days, so missing the restart of the tournament in the UAE on September 19.”
Former English cricketer Paul Newman did not shy away from firing shots at the IPL, Indian cricketers and the BCCI after the fifth Test against England in Manchester was cancelled due to Covid-19 fears in the Indian camp. India’s assistant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the series-decider sending tremors down the Indian dressing room and ultimately leading to the cancellation of the match.
IND vs ENG: Newman article furthered that the visitors’ playing intention took a U-turn after India’s assistant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the Manchester Test. However, he found no point India cancelling the Test after all the players had tested negative in their latest tests.
“The positive PCR test of Yogesh Parmar was the trigger India’s players needed to up sticks and get out of here as soon as possible even after they had all returned negative tests themselves en masse on Thursday evening.
“There really should have been no reason why they could not play on once those test results were returned. That is the criterion that has governed every game this season as cricket continues to navigate the complex Covid world. Why should that change now?”
‘India did not respect the series. Did not respect Test cricket either’
By calling off the decider match and offering little to no room to postpone it, Newman said that Indians have disrespected not just the series but even the format of the game.
The 83-year old England player further took a dig at India head coach Ravi Shastri’s book launch event ahead of the fourth Test in London. He said that this was the prime reason that the English Cricket Board (ECB) was so enraged by the issue.
“This whole outbreak in their camp could well have been started by the presence of Shastri along with captain Virat Kohli and several players and staff at a book launch at a London hotel attended by more than 150 people two days before the Oval Test.
“It was a breach of protocols that privately angered those at the ECB who have done so much to keep the show on the road in the last 18 months, not least with three Tests at Old Trafford last year that salvaged millions of pounds of revenue for the game. What a way for Lancashire to be rewarded for all they did then,” he said.
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