Six Pakistan players, including Hafeez, test negative for COVID-19; to join squad in England

 

Lahore: Six Pakistani cricketers, who were found to be COVID-19 positive ahead of the team’s departure for England last week, have now tested negative for the second time in three days making them eligible to join the squad in the UK.

Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz have been found negative in the latest round of testing conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

“The players were retested on Monday, 29 June, following a first negative test on 26 June,” the PCB said in a statement on Tuesday.

Of these, Hafeez caused quite a stir when he got himself tested at a private facility, which found him negative just a day after the first PCB test put him in the infected list.

Spinner Kashif Bhatti, pacers Haris Rauf and Imran Khan and batsman Haider Ali still remain in quarantine.

In all, 10 Pakistani players were found coronavirus-positive before the team left for England on Saturday.

The PCB said six players “are now eligible to join the Pakistan men’s national cricket team in Worcestershire.”

“The PCB will now start making their travel arrangements and the departure details will be shared in due course,” the Board added.

Pakistan will take on England in a three-Test and three T20 International series in August.

The PCB has allowed senior batsman Shoaib Malik permission to join the squad in England in late July as he wanted to spend time with his family in UAE.