Pakistan name reworked 20-man squad for England tour; Musa Khan and Rohail Nazir included

Pakistan has named a reworked 20-man group for their England tour after 10 of their initial squad members were tested positive for COVID-19. Musa Khan and Rohail Nazir are the new names in the squad even as the players, along with the 11-member staff personnel was supposed to leave for Manchester on Sunday morning.

Interestingly, among the 10 players who were tested positive in the first phase of testing, have now returned negative. The players are Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Hasnain. All these players will have now undergo testing for the third time next week and if tested negative, they will also travel to England soon.

“With the Test series being played first in August, Misbah is satisfied with the group of players that are traveling on Sunday as the focus will be on red-ball preparation. Misbah understands that flexibility and adaptability will be needed with his training and practice schedule while operating under various guidelines,” PCB CEO Wasim Khan was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

According to testing protocols, the players who are tested positive, will have to test negative for COVID-19 twice before they get clearance to travel to the UK.

Players tested positive again advised strict quarantine

The four players Kashif Bhatti, Haris Rauf, Haider Ali and Imran Khan who were tested positive again after the second round of tests are advised to go into strict quarantine. Meanwhile, the reserve players Bilal Asif, Imran Butt, Mohammad Nawaz didn’t find a spot in the touring party.

“I want to reassure the players and the official left behind that the PCB will provide them best support and look after them during the quarantine period. It needs to be remembered that these players were asymptomatic, which means their chances of regaining complete fitness are higher and brighter than most. As soon as these players test negative twice through the PCB testing process they will be flown to England to join the squad,” PCB CEO added.

The 20-man squad, after reaching Manchester, will undergo mandatory 14-day quarantine period in Worcestershire and then move to Derbyshire on July 13.

Here’s Pakistan’s reworked squad: Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (Test captain), Babar Azam (Test vice-captain and T20I captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Imad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Musa Khan, Rohail Nazir.