England vs India: Fifth Test in doubt amid fresh concerns over coronavirus
India cancelled their final practice session ahead of the fifth Test against England at Emirates Old Trafford after a member of their support staff tested positive for Covid-19; head coach Ravi Shastri tested positive during the fourth Test at The Kia Oval
Friday 10 September 2021 08:37, UK
Fresh concerns have emerged over whether the fifth and final Test between England and India at Old Trafford will go ahead as planned.
India's players are concerned about the coronavirus situation in their squad and there are now worries that the Test, which is due to get underway on Friday morning, will be called off.
Sky Sports News understands that there is unlikely to be any play on the first day in Manchester, with an official update expected from the ECB on Friday morning.
India's practice session on Thursday was cancelled after a member of their support staff tested positive for Covid-19.
Second physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive on Wednesday and practice was cancelled as the team were awaiting the results of a fresh round of tests carried out on Thursday morning.
The ECB later announced there had been no further positive Covid-19 tests in the Indian camp.
India head coach Ravi Shastri had previously tested positive for the virus during the fourth Test at The Kia Oval and has since been isolating with bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin Patel.
India lead 2-1 in the five-Test series after winning the Oval Test by 157 runs.
Buttler: Fingers crossed Test goes ahead
Jos Buttler said earlier on Thursday that England had their "fingers crossed" that the fifth Test would go ahead.
England completed their own pre-match preparations shortly after midday on Thursday and are hopeful that the fixture goes ahead as planned.
"At present, we're fully expecting the game to go ahead and we're preparing to play tomorrow. Fingers crossed the game will go ahead," said vice-captain Buttler.
"We don't know too much to be honest. It would be naive to speculate too much on stuff I don't know about. Things are all fine in our camp.
"We trained well this morning so, yeah, we're hopefully all looking forward to the game again tomorrow."
