Dinesh Karthik, who was doing commentary for the India vs England Test series, revealed that some players didn't sleep till 3 am as they were in 'jitters' following physio Yogesh Parmar testing positive for COVID-19. Parmar testes positive two days ago, which automatically created another COVID scare within the Indian camp, days after head coach Ravi Shastri alongside Bharat Arun and R Sridhar tested positive for the virus. The Indian players too were hurriedly tested and fortunately all returned negative reports. And after much deliberation and discussion, the fifth Test in Manchester was called off. IND vs ENG 2021: Playing One-Off Test at Manchester an Option, Says ECB CEO Tom Harrison

While talking to Sky Sports, he said, "I spoke to a few of the guys (Indian players). Almost all games have gone down the wire, they are tired and they have only one physio right now. They had two, but before this one went down along with the chief coach, another couple of the coaches, so they had one physio, so they've done a lot of work with that man. And now he tests positive. Now, that is the problem. If it was somebody else, somebody was helping you know in terms of logistics and all that they wouldn't be this afraid but when this person got it, the physio, I think that's when they got the jitters a little bit."

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He went on to add that with the IPL just days away, the Indian players were hesitant with this match going ahead as scheduled. The T20 World Cup begins after the IPL and then, India would take on New Zealand. "You also have to understand, as soon as this finishes, they have the IPL soon after that the World Cup, and soon after that the New Zealand series and we are talking about literally one-week turnarounds," Karthik stated, adding, "How many bubbles can they do? When they left, when they assembled in India on May 16 it's almost four months. That's a lot of time already." IND vs ENG 5th Test 2021: Cricket Fraternity Reacts As Manchester Match Gets Called Off Due to COVID-19 Scare in Indian Camp

The wicketkeeper-batsman also shared how the Indian team players were awake till 3 am the night before this match over fears of a COVID outbreak within the team. "Let's take an example for today, most of the guys today haven't even slept till 2.30-3 in the morning because they don't know if they have to be ready for the match, they don't know because you know it's very late in India, so they don't know if they're going to be able to speak to ECB those kinds of discussions were gone. "So most of them haven't even slept till 3 O'clock so the Test match happening today was out of question almost. It's whether they can delay it further, but you have to remember that there is a good chance that in the RT-PCR test three days later, someone could test positive and if he's in the playing 11, then what happens to that person."

Karthik has nonetheless attained a lot of popularity as a commentator ever since taking up the role during the World Test Championship final earlier this year. He would be in action for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, which resumes from September 19.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 11, 2021 02:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).