Eng vs Ind, 5th Test: Fingers crossed the game will go ahead, says Buttler

Manchester [UK], September 9 (ANI): England wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler has kept his "fingers crossed" and is expecting the fifth and final Test against India to go ahead as planned. Ahead of the fifth Test against England, a member of the Team India support staff tested positive for COVID-19 in Manchester on Thursday.

This led to Team India's training session for Thursday afternoon being cancelled. The members will now undergo testing before they can take the field. Speaking to ANI, sources in the know of developments confirmed the cancellation of Thursday's training session due to a support staff member testing positive

However, Buttler said everything is fine in the England camp and the hosts are looking forward to the game. "We don't know too much about it at the moment. It would be naive to speculate on what's going on. At the moment we're fully expecting the game to go ahead and we're preparing that way so fingers crossed the game will go ahead. Things are fine in our camp and we are looking forward to the game," said Buttler in a virtual press conference.

Meanwhile, having registered an emphatic 157-run win in the fourth Test against England, Virat Kohli and boys would now have their eyes firmly set on winning the final Test at Manchester to complete a comprehensive 3-1 series win over the Three Lions.

Buttler, who missed the Oval Test due to paternity leave, said England is determined to win the fifth and final Test against India, which gets underway from Friday.

"Yeah, it was a fantastic Test match, the teams played some brilliant cricket but we couldn't make it happen on the final day. As a group, we are determined to win the fifth Test and to level the series. The guys have trained hard and it's a must-win game for us," said Buttler.

Further speaking about the wicket for the final Test, Buttler said, "I think it's a pretty good wicket, it looks a little bit dry and might offer spin later in the game. We have played a lot of cricket here, especially last year against West Indies and Pakistan so we know the conditions pretty well." (ANI)