New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS) India cricketer Dinesh Karthik's post on social media with a picture of dozens of WWE fighters throwing punches at each other in the ring, and captioning it "Everyone figuring about 5th Test on twitter (Face with tongue symbol) #ENGvIND," has received thousands of likes and re-tweets in less than two days, with fans saying that it correctly sums up the scenario of the cancelled Old Trafford Test.

Following the Indian team's assistant physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar testing positive a few days after head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar had tested positive, speculation was rife whether India will play the fifth Test or not.

There were reports that the Test would likely go ahead as per schedule with all the Indian players testing negative for fresh RT-PCR Covid tests. In a free-for-all, everyone started giving opinions. The speculations didn't end despite the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) issuing statements that the Test had been cancelled, and discussion moved to whether the IPL was the reason for calling off the Test.

Several cricket commentators, mostly British, have since said that the cancellation had to do with the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the huge money involved in the in the tournament, and that India could still have fielded 11 players -- like they did in Australia when they were hit by injury woes -- if some players were reluctant to play due to Covid-19 fears.

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan was quick to take to social media, tweeting, "IPL teams chartering planes … 6 days quarantining required in the UAE … 7 days till the tournament starts !!!! Don't tell me the Test was cancelled for any other reason but the IPL."

Earlier, in his column in the Telegraph, Vaughan wrote, "Let's be honest, this is all about money and the IPL. The Test has been cancelled because players were petrified of catching covid and missing the IPL."

Former England cricketer David Lloyd said that he had sensed that there will be a twist to the fifth Test between England and India taking place at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground.

Replying to Karthik's hilarious tweet, fans who were warming up to an engrossing contest but felt short-changed when the match was called off, vented their anger at the BCCI and ECB.

"Shameless and shameful from Indian cricket team. No covid fears for a book launch? Photo shoots? Ipl is more important to them than this test match? Absolutely shameful ? This is the reason cricket gets killed every other day , sometimes rain sometimes Money bag and sometimes by players," a fan replied to Karthik's tweet.

Another wrote, "Such a poor management from @BCCI... they neither are clarifying and making any official Statements nor they are able to manage the bubble... almost every bio bubble is getting breached... strict action needs to be taken.. to ensure ipl and world cup goes well."
Another fan wrote, "Is book release more important that representing India? Why Ravi Shastri compromise Team cause for his personal gain!! He has brought all these troubles now!! put all at danger!! He is answerable now!!"

--IANS

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