***Official*** 5th Test at Old Trafford, Manchester - 10th-14th of September

[Shri]

If you are 2-1 up at half time in a football match you don't get to just go home and claim the win with the 2nd half still to go.
They want to go home and and play ipl instead and not finish the series they signed up to. That's fine but you don't get to claim a win

watch them do it

 

[Shri]

Can we also blame England team for leaving India after Mumbai attack in 2008 ?

i like you but this is gross

 

[sunilz]

i like you but this is gross

I can understand your emotions but some of the English posters are writing nonsense. They feel that Indian players are using covid as an excuse to not play 5th test.

If India really didn't want to play 5th test , it wouldn't have been scheduled in the 1st place. Players don't need to have covid as an excuse.

 

[sunilz]

If the news is true then shame on ECB

 

[GIMH]

If you are 2-1 up at half time in a football match you don't get to just go home and claim the win with the 2nd half still to go.
They want to go home and and play ipl instead and not finish the series they signed up to. That's fine but you don't get to claim a win

I’d love to agree but sadly it’s a sore spot…

 

[Manee]

If you are 2-1 up at half time in a football match you don't get to just go home and claim the win with the 2nd half still to go.
They want to go home and and play ipl instead and not finish the series they signed up to. That's fine but you don't get to claim a win

I honestly don't think it is a big deal if it became 2-2. India should really hope that one forfeited game is a footnote on the path to the next WTC Final. Other than WTC, who cares if it is 2-1 or 2-2 - or am I missing something?

 

[Burgey]

If the news is true then shame on ECB

Not a very reliable news source tbf

 

[Burgey]

And India too is willing to play an additional test next year .
They can't come back to play cricket because their schedule is already packed.

nah, you can’t come back 12 months later and consider it part of the same series ffs. That’s ridiculous.
They “can’t come back” because they want to go and play franchise T20 instead of waiting til they’re cleared and finishing the series. It’s pretty **** tbh. Unsurprising from mercenary new-monied trash, but still pretty ****.

 

[Burgey]

fwiw I think it's been kinda underplayed how tough this how thing has been for the India players. I don't know how long they've been on the road but I can understand the fatigue. They've done really well to keep going as long as they did.

No. Just no. If it was that hard on them being on the road, they’d be flying into Chennai right now, not Dubai.

 

[Burgey]

If you are 2-1 up at half time in a football match you don't get to just go home and claim the win with the 2nd half still to go.
They want to go home and and play ipl instead and not finish the series they signed up to. That's fine but you don't get to claim a win

Post of the thread tbh. Congrats. You’ve come a long way from suggesting Steve Smith left the ball in a peculiar way in an attempt to put the bowler off.

that’s growth. That’s progress. It’s great to see.

 

[Daemon]

Ganguly on India sitting out Old Trafford Test: The players were dead scared, you can't blame them

Rescheduled Test has to be a one-off match, and not a continuation of the aborted series, says BCCI president

www.espncricinfo.com

"The players refused to play but you can't blame them," Ganguly said. "Physio Yogesh Parmar was such a close contact of the players. Being the only one available after Nitin Patel isolated himself, he mixed freely with the players and even performed their Covid-19 tests. He also used to give them a massage, he was part of their everyday lives.

Yikes

 

[Tom Flint]

Haha this is such a set up.

 

[Shri]

can you not be a sociopath for a second champ

 

[Daemon]

This is exactly like when the Indian players were accused of trying to wriggle their way out of playing at the Gabba. It's a real stretch to suggest this was some sort of calculated conspiracy move by the players and/or the BCCI to preserve a 2-1 victory, while in the process opening themselves up to claims and potentially conceding the forfeit.

I'm also not sure any professional sportsperson is actively looking to duck challenges like that. They'd never make it to the level if they did. The Philanders and Lillees are few and far between.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

It's not really England fans going on about this unless it's brought up by Indian fans or slippy the Martian trolling. ICC will decide between an Indian forfeit or a no result cancellation. I'm not bothered which way they go.

 

[Shri]

yeah people said we only won in aus the first time because smith and warner didn't play

we are just going to have to beat you again like we did in aus a couple years later

 

[Cruxdude]

Tell me how I’m wrong honestly?

This isn’t a concern over their safety. It’s a concern over the IPL

The Indian players haven’t really cared about Covid security protocols the entire series.

Otherwise, they would have spent the series moving from bubble to bubble

Now that it may stop them from flying into the IPL it’s suddenly too much

Actually incredibly naive to think this is anything but about the IPL continuing

It is not a huge surprise people not caring about covid till it strikes close to home. Like there are literally 1000s of stories of people not worrying about covid, calling it fake and then suddenly getting it and suffering.

Hearing the physio who has worked on the players tested positive would surely scare the players. Trying to say that just because the players were carefree earlier they should be fine when their physio tested positive is ridiculous.

 

[GotSpin]

It is not a huge surprise people not caring about covid till it strikes close to home. Like there are literally 1000s of stories of people not worrying about covid, calling it fake and then suddenly getting it and suffering.

Hearing the physio who has worked on the players tested positive would surely scare the players. Trying to say that just because the players were carefree earlier they should be fine when their physio tested positive is ridiculous.

It was cancelled because of a potential IPL clash. No other reason

 

[honestbharani]

It was cancelled because of a potential IPL clash. No other reason

 

[Manee]

I think there's no other option than a live polygraph with Virat Kohli on Sky Sports, administered by Ian Ward.

EDIT: Via Zoom