It is difficult to know what is more insulting to the 100,000 people who would have watched the final Test at Old Trafford. The late cancellation that treated them with utter contempt or the suggestion from Tom Harrison that it has nothing to do with the IPL.
Who is the chief executive of the ECB kidding? This debacle, at a time when Test cricket has been gloriously fighting back against every obstacle put in front of it with a compelling series, has everything to do with the franchise competition that is now indisputably more important to the game than all international cricket.
Yes, there was clearly anxiety in the Indian camp when the physiotherapist who has been in close contact with most of the players tested positive for Covid on Wednesday night and joined Ravi Shastri and two of his coaching staff in isolation.
The late cancellation of the fifth Test has treated the 100,000 spectators with utter contempt (Pictured: England captain Joe Root leaves the Old Trafford ground on Friday)
And, of course, there is every sympathy with players forced to live an unnatural life for months on end in bio-secure bubbles or, more recently, ‘managed environments’ to ensure that an over-crowded schedule of matches can carry on through Covid.
But there is no way this series decider would have been called off on the morning of the first day had the majority of India’s players not been flying to Dubai next Wednesday for the resumption of the richest tournament in cricket.
No India player with an IPL contract wanted to risk playing in this Test, then testing positive and being forced to stay in England for another 10 days, so missing the restart of the tournament in the UAE on September 19.
The suggestion from Tom Harrison that it has nothing to do with the IPL was also insulting
That is what means the most to them. That is the event they refuse to jeopardise at any cost. And that, increasingly, will take precedence over Test cricket in the future, particularly when the IPL is enlarged to 10 teams, probably next year.
That is a tragedy for Test cricket, those thousands who have been robbed of watching a thrilling climax to this series - surely if it is played next year it has to be as a one-off game rather than a decider - and those of us who dearly want international cricket, particularly the longest form, to retain primacy instead of a future full of franchises.
Remember, the all-powerful Indian board asked the ECB to reschedule this fifth Test or even cancel it as long ago as May when the IPL was suspended with 31 games remaining. They knew the resumption would follow too quickly after this Test for comfort. India never wanted to play this game here and now in the first place.
The positive PCR test of Yogesh Parmar was the trigger India’s players needed to up sticks and get out of here as soon as possible even after they had all returned negative tests themselves en masse on Thursday evening.
No India player with an IPL contract wanted to risk playing in this Test, and it is a true tragedy
The IPL means the most to them and is the event India's players refuse to jeopardise at any cost
There really should have been no reason why they could not play on once those test results were returned. That is the criterion that has governed every game this season as cricket continues to navigate the complex Covid world. Why should that change now?
India did not respect this series in pulling out yesterday and they did not respect Test cricket either in flouting Covid guidelines ahead of the fourth Test.
This whole outbreak in their camp could well have
