"Why such sudden desensitization towards COVID?" - Aakash Chopra on the ECB's views regarding the Manchester Test cancelation
Aakash Chopra has questioned the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) opinion that the cancelation of the Manchester Test should not be attributed to COVID.
The fifth and final Test between India and England was canceled a couple of hours before the start of play. The Indian team opted not to take the field after their physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive a day earlier.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that the ECB should reflect on their own past actions before pointing fingers. He elaborated:
"You have to look slightly inwards. You came back from South Africa, there was no positive case in your contingent. Sri Lanka - you went back again. You went back to your home from other nations in a jiffy. So, why such sudden desensitization towards COVID?"
However, Aakash Chopra did acknowledge that the ECB's views could have been swayed because England as a whole had probably become desensitized, and cited the example of how the English Premier League is being staged.
Aakash Chopra on ECB and BCCI's differing viewpoints
Aakash Chopra highlighted that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wants to consider it an abandonment due to COVID. He said:
"The Indian board believes it is a COVID-related cancellation, obviously, because the cases are growing one after the other. Even though our players have tested negative today and yesterday, they might come out positive in the coming days."
The former India cricketer added that the ECB thinks otherwise because none of the visiting team's players tested positive. Aakash Chopra observed:
"England believes that the touring party had twenty players, all of them have come negative in two Tests, there is no case there, then why are you considering it a COVID cancellation."
Aakash Chopra agrees with the Indian board's viewpoint. He reasoned:
"My take is that these are extraordinary circumstances. You have to and should consider it a COVID cancellation, for the simple reason that you might not have COVID now but it is found after three or four days, or your neighbor gets it, then you are not in the right frame of mind. It is not that COVID has not happened and you are thinking about ways to get out of the series."
The likes of Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma were in close contact with the physio as they were recovering from injuries. It would have certainly been impossible for the Indian team to continue with the Test match in such a scenario.