Indian National cricket team’s home series against England may not happen due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in India. A BCCI official’s interaction with PTI suggests that a formal announcement will be done soon regarding the same.
August September tour to get postponed
Virat Kohli’s men were set to have a face-off with England in six-match limited-overs series at home at the second part of September this year. Even New Zealand A were scheduled to visit India next month. But the pandemic situation in India has not improved in recent times. Hence in all probability, the series- three ODIs and three T20Is will be postponed due to the COVID situation. A BCCI official informed PTI, “England were supposed to play six games (three ODIs and three T20 Internationals) during late September. Obviously, in the current circumstances, England won’t be travelling to India.”
Likewise, a report in the Daily Mail mentioned that ECB is set to suspend England’s tour of India. The tour was scheduled to start on September 16. But the BCCI’s planning of organizing IPL at the same time and the COIVD-19 pandemic may see the bilateral series getting postponed.
Formal announcement to be done
The official further opined, “But I guess a formal announcement will happen once the FTP issue is discussed as it’s part of the agenda during Friday’s Apex Council meeting. New Zealand A had a tour of India scheduled in August and even that’s also unlikely to go ahead.”
India is currently trying best to deal with 9 lakh positive cases of COVID -19 as the death number is rapidly reaching the 25,000 mark. So, in this situation, no wonder it will be tough to host England in September. The official reminded, “Our (BCCI) president (Sourav Ganguly), in a recent interview, said that they are planning for a camp in August if the situation permits. It’s common sense that under these circumstances, no matches can be held.”
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