Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly has said that no action will be taken against India coach Ravi Shastri over attending his book launch event in London. Speaking to The Telegraph, Ganguly said that "no permission was sought" from the BCCI for attending the event ahead of the fourth Test at The Oval. But when asked if the board was contemplating any action against Shastri? "Nothing," replied Ganguly.
"How long can you stay confined to your hotel rooms? Can you stay locked at your home day in and day out? You can't be restricted to a life where you go from the hotel to the ground and return to the hotel. This is humanly not possible," the former India captain was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
"I was there at the shoot for a Dadagiri episode today. There were some 100 people there... all fully vaccinated but you don't know what will happen. People are contracting the virus even after two doses. This is how life is now," Ganguly added.
During the fourth India-England Test at The Oval, Ravi Shastri tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in him and fellow members of the support staff -- Bharat Arun, R Sridhar and Nitin Patel -- going into isolation.
A day before the start of the fifth and final Test in Manchester, second physio Yogesh Parmar also tested positive for Covid with India's training session on the eve of the Test being cancelled.
The BCCI president said that after Parmar tested positive, Indian players feared that they too must have contracted the virus and "refused to play" the match, which led to the cancellation of the Manchester Test.
"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."
"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," said Ganguly.