India Were "Justified To Do What They Did": Ravi Shastri On 5th Test vs England Being Postponed In 2021

The rescheduled fifth Test between India and England got underway on Friday at Edgbaston, Birmingham. At stumps on Day 1, India's score read 338/7 after a brilliant fightback by Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja that saw the former scoring 146 runs off just 111 balls. At one stage, India were 98/5, but Jadeja and Pant put a 222-run stand for the 6th wicket. The fifth Test was rescheduled after the final game last year had to be pushed back after a few positive COVID-19 cases within the Indian camp.

Ravi Shastri, who was the coach of the Indian team till November last year, has explained why India were "justified" in what they did last year.

"See, at that time, it is very easy to jump the gun and say go out there and play. But there were a lot of players with young families. The word on COVID was not a 100 per cent certain coming from anywhere. Anyone could have gotten it, if someone would have got it in the middle of a Test match, then that would have been even worse. As opposed to now, where that fear factor of getting COVID and being isolated is not the same. People know that they have to get on with it, if that mindset was there earlier and it could not have been there eight months ago because even the authorities did not know if they had the right to say that get on with it, nothing is going to happen, it's just a flu," Shastri told Sky Sports on Friday.

"Today people say it is just a flu, get on with it, no matter what happens. At that point of time, they were justified to do what they did because of the mindset. Today if that happens, the game has to move on. Even then, I wasn't in the dressing room but I tell you, I had half the mindset of probably thinking what you were thinking of getting the reserves out there