R Ashwin Tests Positive For COVID: After testing positive for COVID-19, senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will not travel to the United Kingdom with his teammates for the one-off ‘fifth Test,’ a BCCI source told PTI on Monday. Ashwin is now quarantined and will only be allowed to rejoin the squad if all protocol requirements have been met.
On June 16, the Indian squad flew to the United Kingdom. “Ashwin hasn’t traveled with the squad to the UK as he has tested positive for Covid 19 before departure. But we are hopeful that he will recover well in time before the Test match starts on July 1, However, he might miss the practice game against Leicestershire” On condition of anonymity, a BCCI source informed PTI.
The team had traveled in two shifts where earlier Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Bumrah, and the likes reached England. Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Shubhman Gil, along with Rahul Dravid, and co were supposed to join later. Ashwin seems to have missed the flight on both occasions.
Ashwin is one of the experienced players in the squad and the lead spinner for the tour. Even though he is likely to join the team before the first test, it is good to have backup options. Yuzvendar Chahal who is in good form and will be traveling to Ireland can be called up for the duty.
The earlier announced squad includes:
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.
Team India is going to meet England for the last abandoned test from the previous series that was held in Sept 2021. The match was postponed due to COVID havoc in the UK. Since then, India’s schedule has been tight as they have played 2 IPL seasons, toured South Africa, and Invited them and Srilanka home.
We hope Ashwin has a speedy recovery and is able to join the team soon to ensure India also plays with their full squad potential against England which is looking like a good side. The test is to be played on July 1.
