Going forward, isolated Covid cases will not disrupt our home series: PCB

Pakistan Cricket Board has said that isolated Covid-19 cases will not lead to postponement or cancellation of any home series in future as cricket has now learnt to co-exist with the dreaded virus.

PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja said they have now started to have agreements with touring sides that isolated Covid cases should not lead to any series being postponed or cancelled.

The former Test captain said the PCB agreed to postpone the recent ODI series against West Indies because the visiting side faced an unusual situation with their eight to nine players and support staff testing positive.

Playing international cricket in Covid-19 situation is now a reality and if there are a few cases among players or officials since daily rapid tests are now part of the bio secure protocols it will not disrupt any series, he said.

They (West Indies players) apparently picked up the strain while flying to Pakistan but because they were short on players and strength we decided with the West Indies board to reschedule it to June next year, he said.

Ramiz said the West Indies had also agreed in return to come in 2022 to play the ODI series with a full strength side since they were part of the ICC World Cup qualifiers but they would also tour Pakistan before the 2023 PSL to play a short three T20 series.

The PCB chief supported the idea of touring sides having additional players because in Covid-19 times anyone could end up testing positive.

He agreed that the postponement of the PSL in Karachi early this year because of Covid-19 cases was not good for Pakistan cricket and ruled out any chances of the PCB now having the PSL or home matches anywhere else.

We have learnt it is much more expensive and difficult for us to manage event series anywhere else in Covid times with different restrictions."

He didn't agree that bio secure protocols perhaps needed to be tightened up in Pakistan for international or PSL matches and said already the board was following the same blueprints that are implemented in other cricket playing nations to co-exist with the pandemic.

He said to be careful and prepared the PCB would be hiring a full hotel for the PSL 7 and would book 70-80 rooms so that it reduces chances of players or officials testing positive in the tournament.

He also said that Pakistan had already started preparations for hosting the Asia Cup in 2023 and Champions Trophy in 2025 and saw no reason for India not to tour Pakistan for these major events.