Pakistan suffer jolt ahead of England tour

KARACHI: Just days before their departure from England, Pakistan received a setback Monday night when it was revealed that three of their players have tested positive for Covid-19.

The three players, who have tested positive include star spinner Shadab Khan, rookie batsman Haider Ali and Haris Rauf. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that the trio have tested positive for Covid-19. The Board said in a statement that the three players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan men’s national cricket team’s tour to England.

“The PCB medical panel is in contact with the three who have been advised to immediately go into self-isolation,” the Board said. Pakistan’s squad is scheduled to leave for England from Lahore on Sunday (June 28) on a special chartered flight. However, now that the three players have tested positive and have been asked to go into self-isolation they would not be able to go to England on Sunday’s chartered flight.

However, according to well-placed sources, PCB is now planning to put them on the first available commercial flight to England in the first week of June as soon as they complete their quarantine period.

In any case, the three positive cases don’t really upset Pakistan’s Test plans as neither of the men is counted among the red-ball players in Pakistan’s 29-member squad. Pakistan will begin the tour of England with a three-match Test series likely to get underway at Old Trafford from August 5. The trio of Shadab, Haider and Haris, are expected to feature in the tour-ending Twenty20 International series in the last week of August. The series will be played in Southampton.

The bigger concern for PCB is if there are any more positive cases, especially from amongst Pakistan’s Test specialists. The other players and team officials, barring Cliffe Deacon, Shoaib Malik and Waqar Younis, underwent tests at their respective centres in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar on Monday. Their results are expected at some stage on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the duo of Imad Wasim and Usman Shinwari, also screened in Rawalpindi, have tested negative and, as such, will travel to Lahore on June 24 where the squad is scheduled to assemble before its departure for England on Sunday.