Coronavirus: Three Pakistan cricketers test positive ahead of team’s tour of England

The Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed on Monday that three players – Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan – have tested positive for Covid-19.

“The 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 in a statement.

The England-bound Pakistani cricketers and officials were to be tested coronavirus twice in a space of three days before boarding a chartered flight for their tour of England on June 28. The second round of test are set to take place on Wednesday when the cricketers assemble in Lahore for departure, according to sources in the PCB.

Ali had received his first call-up to the national side as PCB named a 29-member squad for three Tests and three T20Is that included reserves.

Imad Wasim and Usman Shinwari, also screened in Rawalpindi, have tested negative and, as such, will travel to Lahore on 24 June. 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.

Malik, who plays only the Twenty20 format, was on Saturday granted permission to join the national squad late in England so that he can spend some time with his family, whom he has not seen for nearly five months.

Malik has been in Pakistan since the coronavirus outbreak while his wife, tennis player Sania Mirza, and one-year-old son Izhaan, have been in India due to the ban on international travel.

The three-match T20 series against England is slated to begin from August 29 while the Test series starts from July 30. After reaching Manchester, the Pakistani players will travel to Derbyshire for a 14-day quarantine period.

(With PTI inputs)