IND vs ENG 2021: Ravi Shastri, Bharat Arun, and R. Sridhar test positive for Covid-19
Indian head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R. Sridhar have all tested positive for Covid-19.
According to a report published in ANI, the trio will now be isolated until they have two consecutive negative RT-PCR tests and will miss the fifth and final Test between England and India in Manchester. The 5th Test is scheduled to take place between September 10-14.
A source quoted by ANI said:
"Unfortunately, their RT-PCR test results are positive and they will all need to undergo isolation and can come out only after returning two negative results."
BCCI’s medical team had isolated Shastri, Arun, Sridhar and physio Nitin Patel hours before the start of play on day 4 of the Oval Test after the head coach’s lateral flow test returned positive on the previous evening.
''Ravi bhai felt ill on Saturday night around 8 PM" - Team India batting coach Vikram Rathour
Following the development, Indian cricketers were subjected to a couple of lateral flow tests - one on Saturday evening followed by one on Sunday morning - and only after each of them returned negative were they allowed to take the field on day 4 of the ongoing Test in London.
Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour addressed the press-conference at the end of the 4th day where he revealed that Shastri felt ill on Saturday night, which led to the medical team conducting the lateral flow test.
As soon as the test returned positive, close contacts were identified and isolated.
"Ravi bhai felt ill on Saturday night around 8 PM. He was having a little bit of discomfort yesterday, the medical team decided to go for a lateral flow test and it came out positive and that is when we all found that he is positive. The close contacts were identified and isolated,’’ said Vikram Rathour in the press-conference.
While Rathour acknowledged that the team is missing the presence of the Shastri-led support staff, he lauded the players for handling themselves brilliantly on the field on day 4.
‘’Of course, we are missing Ravi bhai massively. Ravi bhai, Bharat Arun, and R Sridhar have been an extremely important part of this setup, they have done well in the past five-six years and they have played a major role in the team doing well.
"This is what it is, they are not here. In the morning, it was a bit of a distraction, we had a word and we decided we need to focus on the cricket. We are here for this series, and I think the boys did well to not get distracted. There was a potential we could have been distracted, the credit needs to go to the boys for the way they handled themselves," Rathour said.
The fourth Test between England and India is delicately placed, with India needing 10 wickets on the final day and the home side requiring 291 more runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series.