Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Farooq Engineer said that captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri cannot be held responsible for the release of his book. Shastri’s book, titled ‘Stargazing: The Players in My Life’, was launched in London on August 31, two days before the start of the fourth Test at The Oval.
People are blaming Ravi Shastri for this. He has done wonders for Indian cricket. He has done tremendously…both Ravi and Virat. You can’t blame them for going to book release. They didn’t go outside the hotel; they were in. In an interview to Sports Tak, the engineer said, “It is very easy to blame someone, to blame someone.
Kohli joined the Indian team members in this event. But five days later, Shastri tested positive for Covid-19 after the fourth day of the fourth Test along with bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar. With the fifth Test between England and India in Manchester canceled in the Indian camp on Friday following fears of an outbreak of Covid-19 as another physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar tested positive, people pointed fingers at Shastri and Kohli in the incident. The blame game has begun with
“People keep coming to us for selfies, and you can’t say no all the time. Ravi and Virat must have done the same thing, or shook hands with people. But how will they know if someone is Covid positive? So you can’t really blame Ravi and Virat, although I believe a lot of blame is being placed on them,” Engineer said.
Engineers were shocked by the conflicting media reports about the availability of the Indian team for the fifth Test. “This is great news but also disappointing news. But to be honest, I don’t know what is happening because we are getting conflicting reports. On one hand I hear that all 11 Indian players are fit to play, while reports in England say that the Indian team has said that they cannot take the field. So they have requested the ECB to cancel the match.”
“But, apart from anything else, it is disappointing because we wanted to beat England again and win 3-1. But unfortunately that is not going to happen. I don’t know what is happening. Everyone is in the dark. I’m sorry I can’t give you more information. I wish I knew,” concluded the engineer.
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