Aamer Sohail criticises PCB for badly handling Mohammad Hafeez's COVID-19 test process

Aamer Sohail criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for mishandling the  COVID-19 Test process of Mohammad Hafeez. It had so happened that the board had confirmed earlier this week about seven players being tested positive for COVID-19 which had also included Hafeez as well. However, after getting himself tested privately, the veteran all-rounder had taken to social media and confirmed that he has been tested negative.  Nonetheless, the middle-order batsman was once again tested positive in another round of tests conducted by his national cricket board.

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'Was handled so badly': Aamer Sohail

Sohail in his blog for PakPassion.net went on to reveal that the whole Mohammad Hafeez COVID-19 test fiasco has been a matter of embarrassment for Pakistan and he fails to understand how this matter was handled so badly by the PCB. He then mentioned that firstly the tests were done after the squad was announced and instead of doing all tests in one laboratory, players were sent to different facilities for tests resulting in conflicting reports. 

The former Pakistani skipper then added that without jumping the gun, they (PCB) should have done scrutiny of those results and if needed got them redone to confirm before going public with them. Furthermore, the 1992 World Cup winner added that expecting Mohammad Hafeez to not go public with results of his COVID-19 test when PCB had announced that he had tested positive would be unrealistic as he is not bound by any code of conduct which would be the case if he was a centrally contracted player.

Pakistan team to reach England on June 28

Despite Pakistan's 10 players testing COVID-19 positive, their tour of England is set to go ahead as the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that the Men in Green will arrive in the United Kingdom on June 28. The Pakistan team will begin their 14-day isolation period at Blackfinch New Road, Worcester soon after their arrival. With the second round of COVID-19 test results of the Pakistan team set to be announced on Saturday, the team will undergo another round of testing after landing in the UK. Meanwhile, the entire 30-man English squad has tested COVID-19 negative and have begun preparations. 

After completing their 14-day isolation period, the Men in Green will move on to Derbyshire’s The Incora County Ground on Monday 13 July to accelerate their preparation ahead of the first Test, which will include two four-day internal warm-up matches. Only those players who test negative after arriving in England on Sunday will be allowed to proceed ahead with the squad. The behind-closed-doors schedule for these fixtures will be announced in due course.

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