Bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin Patel to remain in team hotel with the head coach
“They have undergone RT-PCR testing and shall remain in the team hotel and not travel with Team India until confirmation from the medical team,” a BCCI statement said on Sunday, less than half an hour before the start of play on the fourth day of the fourth England vs India Test at The Oval.
“The remaining members of the Team India contingent underwent two lateral flow tests – one last night and another this morning. The members upon returning negative Covid reports were allowed to proceed for Day 4 of the ongoing fourth Test at The Oval.”
ESPNcricinfo understands that in the absence of Desai, Yogesh Parmar, the second physiotherapist travelling with the team, will be with the team at The Oval, and help the players when needed during the fourth day’s play.
As such, the two teams are understood to have been in separate bio-secure environments, and have only interacted with each other in the middle, during play.
Such was the situation that the second T20I had to be pushed back by a day, and even after that, India barely managed to field an XI.