Karachi: Karachi Kings president Wasim Akram and two Peshawar Zalmi players Wahab Riaz and Haider Ali tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, sources said.
Sources with knowledge of the matter said that Wasim Akram and the players of the PSL franchise have quarantined themselves after the virus tested positive.
It is a major setback for Peshawar Zalmi as two of its key players tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the start of the mega event.
The seventh edition of the PSL is scheduled to begin from January 27 at the National Stadium in Karachi.
It is pertinent to mention here that the total number of coronavirus positive players for the Zalmis has reached four as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday confirmed that the franchise's Kamran Akmal and Arshad Iqbal have tested positive for COVID-19. He was tested positive for the disease and was replaced by the players. From the reserve pool.
According to the PCB, the replacement will be temporary and the replaced players can rejoin the team after completing isolation and receiving a negative PCR result.
On 21 January, the PCB had confirmed that three cricketers and five members of the support staff of various franchises had contracted the virus.
According to a statement issued by the board, PCB's Chief Operating Officer (CCO) Salman Nasir, who is also the tournament director of PSL, had said that over 250 tests were conducted since Thursday and only eight people tested positive, including three. Players and five are included. Support staff members.
"As per the latest results, in over 250 tests conducted since Thursday, three players and five support staff members have tested positive and have been put in isolation," Naseer said.
PSL 7. COVID-19 protocol for
With the commencement of the seventh edition of the PSL amid the renewed coronavirus outbreak in the country, the PCB had developed a new advisory policy for the Coronavirus SOP that would allow each PSL team to have 20 players.
The PCB will allow a match to go ahead even if eight team players out of a squad of 20 test positive. The eleventh and twelfth players will provide options for players who tested positive for COVID-19.
If nine team members test positive for COVID-19, the match will be cancelled. However, in an emergency, it has been advised that 20 to 30 players per team be kept in a "secure bubble" of the hotel.
If a player tests positive for the coronavirus, they will have to isolate for ten days and a substitute will be taken from the safe bubble.