Published: Sep 15, 2021, 07:35 AM (IST)
Edited: Sep 15, 2021, 12:24 PM (IST)
David Gower, former England captain has came up with a big claim that led to the cancellation of the fifth and final Test in Manchester. Gower in an interview with Cricket.com said that the captain of the Indian team sent letters to BCCI at midnight, a day before the Final Test. The 5th Test was called off due to the COVID outbreak in the Indian team which forced Virat Kohli and Co. to withdraw from the match. Gower said that he was very much aware of what was coming and demands better explanation of the events.
“Wow! No one, least of all I, saw that coming. It leads us into unprecedented territories.”
“The worrying thing for me is this: If the IPL was so very closely linked to this, then that to me is very disappointing because… I mean sound old, crusty, but for all those people like me and dare I say, Virat… the last time he was in England, he made a big point about how important Test match cricket is to him,” Gower said.
Meanwhile Virat Kohli broke his silence for the first time about the cancelled Test in a Series show of the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
“Unfortunate how we ended up being here early but with COVID in place, things are very uncertain, so anything can happen at any time.”
Currently BCCI are working alongside ECB regarding the rescheduling of the cancelled Test and have decided to offer two extra T20s to compensate on the loss the English Board has suffered, next year when the Indian team visits England. But this will be proceeded only if ECB amicably agrees to the cancelled match to be a continuation of the series instead of a one-off encounter.
