Head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar will all be unable to travel to Old Trafford for India’s final Test against England, having been reported by ESPNcricinfo to have returned positive RT-PCR COVID-19 tests on Sunday.
The trio will now have to isolate for ten days in London, moved to a team hotel by the BCCI’s medical team, according to UK government rules. Nitin Patel, India’s physiotherapist, is believed to have returned a negative Test having been a close contact of Shastri’s on Saturday.
It is a particular shame for the head coach, who is watching over his final Test series for India. His contract ends at the close of the T20 World Cup after a successful four years in charge. Incidents like this have become the norm in recent times, and organisers will be grateful that the outbreak has not spread to the players and subsequently impacted play.
