NZ tour

Even without a ball being bowled, Pakistan’s ongoing tour of New Zealand has courted a lot of controversies. With as many as eight members of the Pakistan squad testing positive for the novel coronavirus, the tour did plunge into uncertainty at one point. Pakistan team management was even given a “final warning” that any more breaches of the Covid quarantine regulations may result in the tourists being asked to pack up for the return journey – something that caused outrage back home over what is perceived as mistreatment of a world class team and disrespect to a great nation.

Among the most vocal was Shoaib Akhtar who went to the extent of urging the PCB to call back the players in protest and decide not to play against New Zealand for five years. Akhtar also posed pretty pertinent questions to the cricket board officials. He wondered why the board did not send the team members to New Zealand in a direct charter flight – as was done in case of the England tour undertaken in August-September – and exposed them to the risk of contracting the virus on way to Auckland via Dubai. It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan’s 53-strong squad had tested negative for Covid-19 before departing to New Zealand, and those who tested positive on landing there are increasingly likely to have contracted the virus while travelling.

Given no cases of local transmission in New Zealand currently, the zero tolerance being exercised by the Kiwi authorities on non-compliance with Covid safety SOPs is quite understandable – and worth emulating as well. It should have rather been for the PCB to seek clarity on a host of issues including where the players would spend their quarantine and when and how they would warm up and train for the series – which features three T20Is and two Tests. While Pakistan have announced their 18-man squad for the first T20I scheduled for Dec 18, showing that the tour is on track, the players have yet to have even a single practice session.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2020.

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