Fully understand why Indian cricketers panic: Stuart Broad

England pacer Stuart Broad has said that he fully understood the Indian cricketers’ panic over the COVID-19 situation in his camp ahead of the fifth Test in Manchester, which was later cancelled.

NS Virat KohliManchester was on the verge of creating history by beating England at The Oval in London. However, head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin Patel tested COVID-19 positive after their RT-PCR confirmed the infection during the Oval Test.

A day before the start of the fifth Test in Manchester, the second physiotherapist, Yogesh Parmar, also tested positive for the virus, which left Indian cricketers worried and the match cancelled.

Broad, 35, said, “We have seen the pressure of being away from home for a long period of time, with India recently returning zero positive Covid tests within their group, but still quite worried about not playing Test matches. I got it.

“I’m certainly not going to publicize that what they did was wrong because I remember how I felt for the last Test match in Ahmedabad (when England toured India), after 10 weeks. We didn’t see other humans, were kept away from our families, they had slow Wi-Fi and couldn’t even stream Netflix,” Broad told The Mail on Sunday. wrote in his column for

Broad said, “By the end of it we were worn out and the thought of potentially catching the virus during those last few days of the tour – and taking another fortnight off – made me feel quite unsettled. “

The pacer said he saw former England captain Michael Vaughan’s frustration over the cancellation of the fifth Test, but he could understand the Indian cricketers’ concern “so close to flight”.

“I know Michael Vaughan was quite outspoken, saying India’s decision was all about IPL Money – and I’m not saying it didn’t play its part – but I can understand them panicking so close to their flights.”