India cancel practice after physio tests positive for Covid-19 ahead of fifth Test

Manchester - England vice-captain Jos Buttler was hopeful the match would go ahead

India’s practice session ahead of the fifth and final Test against England was cancelled on Thursday after a member of their support staff tested positive for Covid-19, an Indian cricket board official said.

Second physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar tested positive on Wednesday and the team were awaiting the results of a fresh round of tests carried out on Thursday morning, the official added requesting anonymity.

England vice-captain Jos Buttler was hopeful the match would go ahead.

“We don’t know too much to be honest at the moment. It would be naive to speculate too much on stuff I don’t know about,” the wicketkeeper-batsman, who missed the fourth Test to attend the birth of his second child, told a virtual news conference.

“Presently we’re fully expecting the game to go ahead and we’re preparing. Fingers crossed, the game will go ahead.

“Things are all fine in our camp. We trained well this morning, looking forward to the game tomorrow.”

India head coach Ravi Shastri tested positive during the fourth Test at The Oval and has since been isolating with bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physio Nitin Patel.

India lead 2-1 in the five-Test series after winning the Oval Test by 157 runs. The final Test is due to begin on Friday at Old Trafford.