The fifth and final Test between India and England that was scheduled to take place at Old Trafford from September 10 has been cancelled for the moment and the BCCI has offered the ECB an opportunity to save the decider of the series by rescheduling the Test.
"In lieu of the strong relationship between BCCI and ECB, the BCCI has offered to ECB a rescheduling of the cancelled Test match. Both the Boards will work towards finding a window to reschedule this Test match,” the BCCI said in a statement.
Earlier, conflicting statements from the ECB on the issue had raised many eyebrows. In the first statement, the host board had indicated that the Indian team have "forfeited" the final game, suggesting that the series will end in a 2-2 draw. However, it retracted from that statement and removed the point about forfeiture to fuel confusion among fans and watchers of the game about the end result of the Test and the series that was beautifully poised at 2-1 with a game to go at Old Trafford.
“Following ongoing conversations with the BCCI, the ECB can confirm that the fifth LV= Insurance Test between England and India Men due to start today at Emirates Old Trafford, will be cancelled. Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India are regrettably unable to field a team,” the ECB had said in its final statement.
The latest episode of confusion and chaos was created after India's assistant physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar tested positive for the Covid-19 after arrival in Manchester and taking part in India's training session on September 09.