Exclusive! Whole UK is open: Ravi Shastri’s defence to book launch being blamed for incomplete England series

India’s head coach Ravi Shastri. Pic/Getty Images

India's head coach Ravi Shastri has negated talk of his book release (Star Gazing: The Players in My Life) in London on September 1 playing a role in him testing Covid-19 positive which was followed by the cancellation of the Manchester Test. "The whole country [United Kingdom] is open. Anything could have happened from Test One," Shastri told Sunday mid-day from London on Saturday.

Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physiotherapist Dr Nitin Patel were placed in isolation from Day Four of the fourth Test at The Oval, where India won by 157 runs. All hell broke loose when the news of assistant physio Yogesh Parmar testing positive came through on the eve of the Manchester Test. "Outbreak of Covid-19 in the Indian team contingent forced the decision of calling off the Old Trafford Test Match," said the BCCI in a press release on Friday.

‘The best summer of cricket'

Shastri, 59, preferred to dwell more on his team's magnificent performance in the Test series which they led 2-1 before the fifth and final Test at Manchester was called off. "It's been the best summer of cricket England has seen in a long time certainly from an Indian cricket team. It's Covid times, awesome summer though. The boys were fantastic either side of the Thames," said Shastri, who had been part of the 2-0 victory in 1986, the only time an Indian team apart from the current one, were able to win two Tests in a series on English soil. Reports said that the England & Wales Cricket Board were livid at India's inability to play in Manchester, but ECB chief Tom Harrington had attended Shastri's book launch.

Dominant show

This is the second overseas tour that India dominated the opposition, the first being the last series in Australia, where India won 2-1. "No team played in Covid times like this Indian team did in Australia and England. Just ask the experts here. Nothing has given me more job satisfaction in the game and I have been around for a bit as you would know," remarked Shastri, calling the Indian team's triumph an "unreal show of character."

Shastri has been at the receiving end of criticism for the function which was attended by members of his team. "Ravi Shastri's positive Covid test came soon after he and his squad attended a busy book launch - without getting dispensation from the ECB. Everyone hoping the post-Test PCR tests do not throw up positive results among the players before Manchester," tweeted Lawrence Booth, the Daily Mail writer, who is also the editor of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

Mumbai-based Shastri may have picked up the virus at Leeds, the venue of the third Test which India lost by an innings and 76 runs. Restrictions in the UK were lifted on July 19, which was coined as Freedom Day.

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