'The board was under pressure': PCB CEO on why they went ahead with England tour

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) came under intense pressure on whether to send its team for the England series or not after 10 players tested positive for COVID-19, but eventually went ahead with the tour to ensure the resumption of the game amid the pandemic, a top official said. Last month, 10 players had been left out of the England tour squad after they failed to clear the coronavirus test.

Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Haider Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, and Kashif Bhatti were among those who tested positive in the first round. A few players subsequently cleared a second test and joined the squad in England.

'The Board was under pressure': PCB CEO

"The Board was under pressure when so many players' tests came positive. Thus sending the cricket team to England during the coronavirus pandemic was quite a tough decision," PCB CEO Wasim Khan was quoted as saying by a Pakistani channel.

"We kept to our plan to go ahead with the tour because we had in the first place decided to send the team to play our important part in the restoration of world cricket and to keep it on track, it is imperative to continue with matches."

Khan also emphasised that "cricket and COVID-19 will have to co-exist''. He insisted that there was no other reason for going ahead with the tour to England other than to ensure that international cricket resumed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the PCB also took into account that the West Indies proceeded with their tour of England despite the pandemic.

"Whenever we are asked regarding our decision to proceed with the tour to England, the same question should also be posed to the West Indies cricket team, which has also continued with scheduled matches," he said.

"The West Indies (cricket team) decided to go to England when the situation was quite worse over there (due to the pandemic)."

Pakistan tour of England 2020

The Pakistani squad had reached England on June 28 for a bilateral series that was originally scheduled to be played from July 30 to September 2. However, as per the revised schedule, the two teams will now lock horns in a three-match Test series that will be followed by a three-match T20I series from August 5 to September 1 as the reigning ODI world champions will be hosting Ireland in a three-match ODI series preceding the bilateral series against the Men In Green. Azhar Ali will be leading Pakistan in Tests whereas, the current top-ranked T20I batsman Babar Azam will be leading the former number one T20I side in the game's shortest format. 

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(With PTI Inputs)

(Image Courtesy: AP)