Following a COVID-19 scare, India will take on England as scheduled in the fifth Test in Manchester starting Friday. The Indian cricket team cancelled its practice session on Thursday and underwent new tests after assistant physio Yogesh Parmar’s tested positive for coronavirus. India were already going into the series decider without head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharath Arun and fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar, all three of whom are isolating in London after testing positive for coronavirus.

Parmar’s positive test had cast doubts over the Old Trafford test with Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly saying he wasn’t sure if the match “will happen at the moment.”

However, an England Cricket Board (ECB) spokesperson late on Thursday said the match “goes ahead” after the negative PCR tests of the Indian squad, news agency AFP reports. Earlier, it was reported that a senior Indian player had called for cancelling the match due to fears of an COVID-19 outbreak. ECB chairman Tom Harrison had been trying to convince the “high-profile player” whose family wanted him to skip the game, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported, adding that other squad members had no such concerns.

The BCCI was reportedly mulling to ask the player to rest and replace him with Suryakumar Yadav or Hanuma Vihari for the game.

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The news agency also reported that Mohammed Shami was likely to replace India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who has bowled 151 overs in the first four matches, for the fifth test.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who holds the second spot in the Test bowling rankings with 850 rating points, could also replace the injured Ravindra Jadeja, for his first game of the series. Jadeja is suffering from a leg strain.

India gained a 2-1 lead in the series after beating England by 157 runs in the fourth Test at the Oval on Monday.