Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Farokh Engineer said that captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri cannot be blamed for going to the book launch of the latter's book. Shastri's book, titled 'Stargazing: The Players in My Life', had a launch event on August 31 in London, two days before the start of the fourth Test at The Oval.
"People are blaming Ravi Shastri for it. He has done wonders for Indian cricket. He has done tremendous... Ravi and Virat both. You can't blame them for going to a book launch. They did not go outside the hotel; they were inside. It's very easy to blame somebody, to pinpoint somebody," said Engineer in an interview to Sports Tak.
Kohli, along with members of the Indian team, attended the event. But five days later, Shastri tested positive for Covid-19 along with bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar after day four of the fourth Test. With the fifth Test between England and India at Manchester cancelled on Friday after fears of Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian camp as second physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar tested positive, the blame game has started with people pointing fingers at Shastri and Kohli attending the event.
