London, Sep 5: India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour on Sunday said the team was naturally a bit distraught ahead of the fourth day of the fourth Test after head coach Ravi Shastri tested positive for COVID-19. The BCCI medical team on Saturday evening isolated Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin Patel as a precaution after the head coach tested positive for lateral flow. “Of course, we are missing them in a big way. Ravi bhai (Ravi Shastri), B Arun and R Sridar, they have been an extremely important part of this set-up and they have done very well in the last five-six years and the team. Rathore said after the end of the day’s play.
India were in a commanding position after scoring 466 in the second essay, thanks to a memorable century by Rohit Sharma and equally important innings by Cheteshwar Pujara, Shardul Thakur and Rishabh Pant. “But it’s the same. It’s true that they’re not here. So, it was this morning, I think, a little distracting, we had a word, we talked,[and]decided what we had in hand. There is a need to focus on that, which is cricket,” Rathore said. “So, we are here for this series, it is an extremely important series that we are playing and today when we came in the morning, it was an extremely important day for us, to focus on cricket. So, I think That the boys did very well, not to be distracted.
Rathore said, “There was a possibility that we might deviate from the situation that happened last night but a lot of credit goes to the boys, the way they handled themselves and the way we played as a team. The batting coach also revealed that Shastri felt some discomfort on Saturday after which the test was conducted.
“I can’t know the exact time, but it was around eight o’clock last night. Yesterday he was having slight discomfort, so the medical team decided to go for Lateral-Pro test and it came back positive and that’s when we heard that he is positive and I think, close contacts were identified and isolated. Done, so we’ll wait for the medical team to oil when they can join back, they said.
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