'Would've been played if it wasn’t for the IPL' - Barmy Army chief casts serious allegations on BCCI, Indian players after final Test cancellation

The final Test of the five-match series was cancelled in a join decision on September 9 due to Covid-19 scare.

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The Barmy Army
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England players applauded the Barmy Army before leaving the field. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The fifth and final Test between England and India had to be called off in a mutual decision of the BCCI and ECB owing to Covid scare in the Indian camp, where assistant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for the virus on the eve of the final fixture of the five-match series.

“Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India are regrettably unable to field a team,” the ECB said in a statement. “We send our sincere apologies to fans and partners for this news, which we know will cause immense disappointment and inconvenience to many.”

While all of India’s players returned negative RT-PCR tests, they had concerns regarding health and security after Parmar’s positive test result. While initial discussions suggested pushing back the start of the Test by two days, the fact that all of India and England’s IPL-bound players need to fly to Dubai from Manchester on September 15 for the second leg of the 2021 edition came in way of those plans, eventually leading to the cancellation of the encounter.

Meanwhile, the abrupt cancellation of the encounter understandably left many viewers and fans dejected, including an England supporter Alex Gatt, who revealed to talkSPORT that he, along with his friends, spend around £2000 on hotels and travel, which they are unlikely to recover.

“I’m absolutely shocked and disgusted to be honest. We have obviously had this booked for near on two years now,” Gatt said.

“It was meant to be last year and that got cancelled. Now we’ve got 18 people asking me what’s going on with refunds, etc. I don’t think we are going to get that for the hotel to be honest. A large majority are still going to travel and enjoy a day out. I don’t know what we’re going to do.

“The hotel is already booked and paid for. Just under £2000 for the hotel and there are a few lads who now don’t want to go as they were all about going to the cricket. I honestly don’t know where we are go with that. Presumably we are going to have to suck it up and take it.”

There is no doubt this would be played if it wasn’t for the IPL: Barmy Army MD

When asked for a reaction, Barmy Army managing director Chris Mallard said: “Absolute rage, to be honest with you. I was just arriving at Old Trafford when the news came through just after 8am, and I just started shaking with anger at the way this has played out.

“Not only for the fans who were supposed to be here, but there are so many little businesses that are affected by a late decision like this and it causes a knock-on effect.

“It’s going to be a difficult winter for businesses in sport and for a business like the Barmy Army, the absolute nightmare this has caused for merchandising, ticket holders, staff, it really couldn’t be much worse.”

“With the IPL around the corner, there is no doubt this would be played if it wasn’t for the IPL. It’s an absolute outrage for it to have such power. The Indian players being the ones who would have pulled out to protect their IPL contracts and commercial contracts.

“Yes, they are huge, we have to respect that, but lets be honest they had to fulfil this fixture. It’s shocking they are allowed to pull the plug.”

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