'Players feared they must've contracted the disease, were dead scared': Ganguly on why India didn't play Manchester Test

Sourav Ganguly, president of the BCCI, has broken his silence over India's decision to sit out the 5th Test of the series against England on Friday. Ganguly dismissed theories and reports that the decision to opt out of the Manchester Test was due to the IPL and instead revealed that it was indeed because of the Covid scare that hit the Indian camp.

On the eve of the Test match, India's assistant physio Yogesh Parmar had tested positive for Covid-19 with Ganguly revealing that players, despite returning positive tests - were genuinely scared for their health since Parmar was a close contact of everyone being the physio of the team.

"The players refused to play but you can't blame them. Physio Yogesh Parmar was such a close contact of the players. Being the only one available after Nitin Patel isolated himself, he mixed freely with the players and even performed their Covid-19 tests. He also used to give them a massage, he was part of their everyday lives," Ganguly told The Telegraph.

"The players were devastated when they came to know that he had tested positive for Covid-19. They feared they must have contracted the disease and were dead scared. It's not easy staying in a bubble. Of course, you have to respect their feelings."

With the Manchester Test cancelled, the ECB is expected to incur a huge loss, and while the future is unclear at the moment, Ganguly informed that a way forward will be decided by the BCCI and ECB.

"The Old Trafford Test has been cancelled. They (ECB) have incurred a lot of losses and it's not going to be easy on [them]. Let things settle down a bit, then we can discuss and decide. Whenever it's held next year, it should be a one-off match since it cannot be a continuation of the series anymore," added Ganguly.