Karachi Kings owner Salman Iqbal revealed how a timely message from the team's overseas recruit Alex Hales alerted everyone against potential spread of COVID-19 and eventually led to the suspension of PSL 2020. 

There were reports of one overseas player showing symptoms of the virus when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was forced to postpone the league's knock-out phase. And it is now confirmed that it was Hales. 

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"It was two o’clock in the morning in Pakistan and we had a message from Alex Hales saying: ‘Boss, I have symptoms of Covid-19 and I think you should all get tested," Salman was quoted as saying by BBC.

With the threat of travelling restriction looming large, Hales returned to England a few days earlier. 

"I then got a call from coach Dean Jones (Kings' head coach) saying he wanted to meet straight away," Salman added. "We were all scared. If you have the symptoms, you have to be isolated." 

"I was trying hard to get somebody to Birmingham to get Hales tested. I even asked if my doctor from London would go to him but it couldn’t happen."

"In the end, we had to get everyone in the team tested. All of them started panicking and we postponed the tournament the next day."

PCB and PSL franchises are now hoping for the world to soon overcome the deadly outbreak so that a new window can be found in the calendar for the matches left. 

Table-toppers Multan Sultans were due to play Peshawar Zalmi while Karachi Kings were to take on Lahore Qalandars in the two semi-finals. 

(Inputs from BBC)