PAKvsWI: Three West Indies players including the likes of pacer Sheldon Cottrell, all-rounders Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers have shown the symptoms of covid-19 and are ruled out of the Pakistan tour.
The three aforementioned players and a non-coaching staff of West Indies have returned Covid Positive during the testing held in Karachi, Pakistan. These players will miss the series against Pakistan and will remain in isolation for 10 days.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) in a statement informed that all the players and a member of non-coaching staff were fully vaccinated and didn’t show up major symptoms of the virus.
“Our arrival testing protocols in Pakistan have confirmed four Covid-19 positives,” Johnny Grave, CEO of CWI, said.
The statement further added that the players were in isolation when the testing was conducted. Despite having suffered a major setback, West Indies is confident to go as per the plans for the Pakistan series, as of now.
“These were confirmed whilst the players and staff were still in room isolation, so despite this significant setback to our preparation plans, we are confident that the tour can continue as everyone else returned negative PCRs prior to their arrival into Pakistan and two negative PCRs since they have been in Karachi.”
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Pakistan is scheduled to host West Indies for three T20Is and as many One Day Internationals (ODIs). The tour is slated to commence on 13th December, Monday with the T20I series.
Earlier, West Indies lost its white-ball skipper, Kieron Pollard, as he failed to recover completely from his hamstring injury.
Experts believe that the West Indies tour to Pakistan could possibly take a turn if more covid positive cases emerge. As of now, only four members have been infected with the deadly virus.
“The risk of COVID-19 infection is impossible to remove completely from a cricket tour, in spite of the fact that many of our players have been living in bio-secure bubbles almost continuously since before the CPL. This unusual loss of three players from our squad will seriously impact our team preparations, but the rest of the squad are in good spirits and will begin training today ahead of our first game on Monday,” concluded Johnny Grave, CEO of CWI.
West Indies tour of Pakistan 2021 Schedule:
| Date | Match | Venue | Time |
| December 13 | 1st T20I | Karachi | 6 pm |
| December 14 | 2nd T20I | Karachi | 6 pm |
| December 16 | 3rd T20I | Karachi | 6 pm |
| December 18 | 1st ODI | Karachi | 1.30 pm |
| December 20 | 2nd ODI | Karachi | 1.30 pm |
| December 22 | 3rd ODI | Karachi | 1.30 pm |
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