Proposed India vs England 'standalone' Test should be series-decider: Sourav Ganguly

The president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Sourav Ganguly has insisted that the proposed "standalone" Test between India and England should be treated as the series-deciding fifth game that was cancelled last week due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the visiting camp.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has written to the International Cricket Council (ICC) seeking a Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) judgment on the fate of the cancelled match that was scheduled to be played at Old Trafford, Manchester. The ICC is yet to comment on the matter. "We want the series to be completed as this will be our first series win (in England) since 2007," Ganguly told PTI in an interview.

"The BCCI maintains that Test cricket is the ultimate format and we won't compromise it for anything," he added further.

Ahead of the fifth Test, the Indian team had an unassailable lead of 2-1 but Virat Kohli and Co refused to step on the field following the positive covid results of a number of support staff, including head coach Ravi Shastri.

The report has also stated that forfeiture will allow the ECB to get insurance reimbursement of 40 million pounds that, it claims, would help offset its losses because of the cancellation.

Ganguly was asked if the BCCI has offered to play two extra Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) instead of the one-off Test next July when India tour the UK once again. To which, the BCCI chief responded, "We are ready to play extra ODI and T20Is and that's not an issue. Just that the Test match that will be played later will be the fifth match of the series."

If the ICC deems that the match was abandoned due to COVID-19, then India will officially win the series 2-1 as such a cancellation is considered an "acceptable non-compliance" under the rules of the World Test Championship (WTC).

"There is a precedence of series being cancelled because of COVID-19 in the past 18 months. The BCCI cancelled its home series against South Africa last year which cost us around 40 to 50 million pounds," the former captain said.

The BCCI chief went on to add that he hoped in near future there will be concrete "medical advice" on offer that will allow series to go on even with COVID cases within the team.

"Because we understand how detrimental it is to the game in terms of spectators and viewers' interest (TV and OTT) especially when the series has been of such high quality. Test cricket is BCCI's foremost priority," he stated.

Ganguly also said that while the BCCI was "disappointed" that the match was called off but it could not have pushed the worried players beyond a point. "We are extremely disappointed that this series had to be called off. The only reason is the COVID-19 outbreak and players' safety. We could only push them to a point. But the pandemic is so severe that one can only go that much distance," he explained.

On being asked if the option of fielding a fresh team by resting some of the senior players, who were not comfortable, was considered, Ganguly said, "No that wasn't an option. If you see the Yogesh Parmar (the junior physio who tested positive just before the match) was a close contact of every player."

"So obviously that was a cause of worry. It was something nobody had any control on and they (the players) had families travelling with them," he added, justifying the anxiety in the camp.