Ravi Shastri said that pointing fingers at the book launch was wrong since the whole of England had opened up and there were no restrictions.
Team India head coach Ravi Shastri doesn't have any regrets about the book launch and has cleared that he didn't contract COVID-19 at the event which was four days prior to the date when he tested positive for COVID-19 in London, during the fourth Test between England and India at the Oval.
Ravi Shastri's lateral flow test had come out positive and thus was isolated from the rest of the team and on the final day of the Test match, he had tested positive for COVID-19 along with the bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar after which meant blamed his book launch at which skipper Virat Kohli was also present.
"There were about 250 people there and no one got Covid from that party. I’ve not got it at my book launch because it was on the 31st [August] and I tested positive on 3 September. It can’t happen in three days. I think I got it in Leeds. England opened up on 19 July and suddenly the hotels were back, lifts were back. No restrictions," Shastri was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
Shastri further added that at the Oval, all the people were using the same stairs, so pointing fingers at a book launch isn't right.
"I have absolutely no regrets because the people I met at that function were fabulous. And it was good for the boys to get out and meet different people rather than constantly being in their rooms. At the Oval Test, you were climbing stairs used by 5,000 people. So to point a finger at a book launch?" Shastri further said.
Shastri and co stayed in London as the rest of the Indian contingent moved to Manchester for the fifth and the final Test match but on the eve of the game, assistant physio Yogesh Parmar had tested positive and since he was in close contact with a few players, there was a COVID-19 scare amongst the camp despite players having returned negative tests.
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 "Ravi Shastri")
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