ENG vs IND: Three members of India’s support staff including head coach test positive for COVID-19, to miss fifth Test

India head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar have all returned positive results to their RT-PCR tests for COVID-19. They will all undergo isolation and can come out only after returning two negative results. They will miss the Manchester Test which is set to be played from September 10 to 14.

Speaking to ANI, sources in the know of developments confirmed that the trio has returned positive results to their RT-PCR tests. “Unfortunately, their RT-PCR test results are positive and they will all need to undergo isolation and can come out only after returning two negative results,” the source said.

Just half an hour before the start of play on Day 4, the BCCI said its medical team had isolated Shastri, Bharat Arun, Sridhar, and physio Nitin Patel as a precautionary measure after Shastri’s lateral flow test returned positive on Saturday evening. The remaining members of the Team India contingent underwent two Lateral Flow Tests — one on Saturday night and another on Sunday morning. The members upon returning negative COVID reports were allowed to proceed for Day 4 of the ongoing fourth Test at The Oval against England.

“Of course, we are missing Ravi bhai massively. Ravi bhai, Bharat Arun, and R Sridhar have been an extremely important part of this setup, they have done well in the past five-six years and they have played a major role in the team doing well. This is what it is, they are not here. In the morning, it was a bit of a distraction, we had a word and we decided we need to focus on the cricket. We are here for this series, and I think the boys did well to not get distracted. There was a potential we could have been distracted, the credit needs to go to the boys for the way they handled themselves,” said Rathour during a virtual press conference on Sunday.

“Ravi bhai felt ill on Saturday night around 8 PM. He was having a little bit of discomfort yesterday, the medical team decided to go for a lateral flow test and it came out positive and that is when we all found that he is positive. The close contacts were identified and isolated so we will wait for the medical team to tell us when they can join back,” he added.