31-member Pakistan contingent arrive in Manchester for 3-match Test and T20I series

The Pakistan cricketers and 11 support staff members arrived on a chartered flight from Lahore and will be transported to Worcestershire.

20-member Pakistan squad, along with 11 support staff members, reached Manchester on Sunday night. The players arrived on a chartered flight from Lahore and were seen coming out of the airport wearing masks and maintaining adequate distance between themselves.

The 10 Pakistan cricketers, who had tested positive for the coronavirus in the initial tests conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), were not included in the first set of the contingent sent for the 3-match Test series and will join the players later if they return negative in next Covid-19 test.

The 20-member squad, including 11 support staff officials, will now be put under a 14-day quarantine period in Worcester before transferring to Derbyshire’s Incora County Ground on July 13.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has made arrangements for their testing before they go on a 14-day isolation period, during which they will be allowed to train.

Of the 10 Pakistan cricketers who had tested positive for the coronavirus earlier, six had returned negative in the recent test conducted by the PCB.

The players who were tested negative were Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, and Wahab Riaz.

The cricketers who were once again tested positive for Covid-19 were Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Kashif Bhatti and Imran Khan.

The players who reached here on Sunday are Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmad, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Rohail Nazir, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, and Yasir Shah.

Zafar Gohar, the left-arm spinner who played an ODI in 2015, will join the side from England and will only be involved in pre-match preparations.

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