PSL 2021: Major blow to Peshawar Zalmi as Wahab Riaz isolated for breaking COVID-19 protocols

KARACHI: Peshawar Zalmi skipper has been ruled out of their first Pakistan Super League (PSL) match against Lahore Qalandars as he and Head Coach Darren Sammy were isolated after they broke coronavirus protocols and met a person outside bio-secure bubble, sources said on Saturday.

According to Geo News sources, Wahab Riaz and head coach Darren Sammy had "mistakenly" met team owner Javed Afridi during a practice session on Friday evening.

“It may be an honest mistake and possibility the player and coach didn’t know that he was not part of the bubble,” a source said.

Peshawar Zalmi, the sources said, will announce a stand-in captain for Sundays’ game with Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal are likely candidates for the role to wear captain’s band.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on late Friday night had announced that a player and an official of one of the teams taking part in the PSL 2021 have been placed in three-day quarantine after they came into contact with a person outside the bio-secure bubble on Friday.

The two individuals will now require two negative tests during the three-day quarantine period before they can re-enter the bio-secure bubble in accordance with the re-entry protocols.

“The PCB is disappointed that two members of one of the sides showed carelessness and violated the bio-secure bubble protocols by coming into a contact with a person who was not part of the bubble,” the PCB had said.