Indian Head Coach Ravi Shastri’s book launch event has come under immense scrutiny after the fifth test match between England and India was cancelled on Friday. The decision was taken mutually by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The Indian players were nervous and reluctant to play after assistant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. This was the fourth covid positive case in the Indian camp, as Ravi Shastri, Bharat Arun, and R Sridhar had also tested positive during the fourth test match.
Ravi Shastri’s book ‘Stargazing: The Players in my Life’ was launched on August 31 at an event, which was attended by over 150 people, including the members of the Indian cricket team.
An attendee spoke to The Daily Mail about the scenes at the event.
“It was horrid. No one wore masks, apart from waiting staff. It left me feeling very uncomfortable. Everyone there went over to Shastri to meet him”, the attendee revealed.
Indian cricket team captain @imVkohli at the unveiling of the first European outpost of India’s first and most revered club, Taj The Chambers, @Taj51BG and launch of Indian cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri’s book Stargazing: The Players in My Life. #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/wiLcc7gm6f
— Mayfair Times (@MayfairTimes) September 1, 2021
As per a report in the Evening Standard, the event was also attended by the England & Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) CEO Tom Harrison. While the event is being criticized heavily by the English media and fans, Harrison said that the England board did not have any say in what the Indian team wants to do.
“The position we have had is for people to make decisions on what they think they are able to do or not. It’s not for ECB to say, in the context of trying to let people live more freely, we’re not influencing how they live their lives in the constraints of those living standards. That’s not how we operate,” ECB CEO Tom Harrison said.
