All the three players have been advised to instantly go into self-isolation
Lahore: Three Pakistan players – Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, and Shadab Khan – have tested positive for COVID-19, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed on Monday.
The PCB said that the players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan team’s tour to England for which the 29-man squad is scheduled to leave on June 28. Pakistan is scheduled to play three Tests and as many T20Is against England in August-September.
The board further said that all the three players have been instructed to immediately go into self-isolation.
Imad Wasim and Usman Shinwari, also screened in Rawalpindi, have tested negative and, as such, will travel to Lahore on June 24.
The other players and team officials, barring Cliffe Deacon, Shoaib Malik, and Waqar Younis, underwent tests at their respective centers in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar on Monday and their test results will come on Tuesday.
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 tests is set to take place on Wednesday when the cricketers assemble in Lahore for departure, according to sources in the PCB.
Pakistan’s test and limited-overs squads are set to tour England for three tests and three Twenty20 internationals. They were due to fly out later this month to quarantine themselves ahead of the first test on July 30.
Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
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.
Pakistan squad for England tour:
Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam (Test vice-captain and T20I captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan, and Yasir Shah.
Shoaib 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.