The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had to suspend the Pakistan Super League 2020 on the day of the semi-finals as one foreign player showed symptoms of the deadly coronavirus, before returning home. That player later turned out to be England’s Alex Hales.

Now the PCB on Wednesday is awaiting the test results for the COVID-19 virus for close to 100 people, who were involved in the now-suspended PSL 5, some of whom are players as well.

Alex Hales releases statement with regards to his health status

“We are expecting the first results later tonight or tomorrow. Until now no test result has come but we have taken all precautionary steps to ensure the health and safety of players and officials belonging to the semi-finalist teams, umpires, commentators and even PCB officials and production staff members,” a PCB official said.

The coronavirus outbreak has so far claimed more than 8000 lives and infected close to 2,00,000 globally.

Given the health scares, PCB has closed its offices in Lahore and Karachi until Monday. For the time being, the employees have been told to work from home and practice social distancing.

The board was criticized for not calling off PSL earlier. “The moment we saw the message from Hales who had returned home last week we acted promptly and followed all protocol to ensure everyone’s safety and wellbeing,” he said.

The PCB is also yet to assess the exact loss of revenue.

“If we presume there is a full house for one match in Karachi or Lahore plus the sale of hospitality boxes and other commercial deals the loss of revenue for one match played before an empty stadium could be in the range of between 70 to 100 million rupees,” a source in the board said.

“It will cut into our deal with the broadcasters and title sponsors as well,” he added.

This was the first time Pakistan had hosted the entire PSL in the country and the matches saw full houses in Multan, Rawalpindi, Karachi, and Lahore.

(PTI inputs)