Pakistan team arrived in England despite the viral outbreak wrecking havoc in the world.
Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Haider Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain and Kashif Bhatti all came out positive of the infection after first round of testing. Thankfully, however, nine of them were cleared to join the originally selected squad in UK after returning negative on subsequent testing.
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Pakistan will play three Tests and three T20Is, with the tour kickstarting via the first Test in Manchester, beginning August 5.
"The Board was under pressure when so many players’ tests came positive. Thus sending the cricket team to England during the coronavirus pandemic was quite a tough decision," PCB CEO Wasim Khan was quoted as saying by a Pakistani channel.
"We kept to our plan to go ahead with the tour because we had in the first place decided to send the team to play our important part in the restoration of world cricket and to keep it on track, it is imperative to continue with matches," he added.
The fact that West Indies, playing its series in England before Pakistan, stood firm for the game once again despite the pandemic, only helped PCB also take a stance in favour of the sport.
"Whenever we are asked regarding our decision to proceed with the tour to England, the same question should also be posed to the West Indies cricket team, which has also continued with scheduled matches," said Wasim, adding this is similar to teams agreeing to visit Pakistan after great efforts in tackling security concerns.
“They are more willing to come now. Tell me why did not these teams like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh come for Tests and white-ball cricket before we (current PCB regime) took over. We also brought the MCC side and the Bangladesh women’s team. All this gives us confidence that more teams will be coming to Pakistan soon," he concluded.
(Inputs from PTI)