On September 10th, the fifth Test between India and England got cancelled. It was done after a few Indians had concerns about the rising COVID cases in the Indian camp. Michael Vaughan has felt that the 5th Test between England and India was cancelled due to IPL.
The Manchester Test was cancelled on September 10th
During the Oval Test, a few members of the Indian support staff tested positive for COVID. Ravi Shastri was also one of them. Later, after the game, India’s second physio Yogesh Parmar also tested positive. Hence, the Indian players were tested again. All players came with negative reports.
Although the game was about to happen, a few players expressed concern about the rising cases. Hence, the boards decided that the game will be cancelled. This happened just a few moments before the toss. There is still no clarity if the fifth game would happen or not.
Vaughan feels 5th Test between England and India was cancelled due to IPL
However, there is a narrative that is going around linking the cancellation of the Test to IPL. As per this, some Indian players did not want to risk contracting the virus by playing the game. If they did test positive, they would have to self-isolate. IPL is set to start within a few days and this meant, these players would not be available for the initial encounters. The narrative mentioned that this was the reason why players did not want to play the final Test. Even Michael Vaughan agreed that the narrative was true.
IPL teams chartering planes .. 6 days quarantining required in the UAE .. 7 days till the tournament starts !!!! Don’t tell me the Test was cancelled for any other reason but the IPL ..
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) September 11, 2021
Soon after the news came out that the fifth Test had been cancelled, IPL franchises started arranging chartered planes to fly their players to UAE. This would help the franchises get the players ready in time. Vaughan felt that this shows that the Manchester Test was indeed cancelled for IPL.
