Inzamam-Ul-Haq Unhappy With PCB's Attitude Towards Their Players

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq has opened up on his country’s national cricketers testing positive for COVID-19. The deadly pandemic continues to wreak havoc around the entire world while it hasn’t spared the sporting world either. Not only cricketers but footballers, basketball players, and tennis athletes have contracted it too. As far as Pakistan is concerned, over 100000 cases have been recorded amongst which ten cricketers have tested positive.

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On the 22nd of June, Shadab Khan, Haider Ali, and Haris Rauf found to have caught the disease. A day later the likes of Fakhar Zaman, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Hafeez, and Wahab Riaz also joined the list ahead of the tour of England. Former international cricketers Taufeeq Umar and Shahid Afridi announced the sad news earlier as well.

Former Pakistan cricketer Rashid Latif blasted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the national players while Inzamam-Ul-Haq has pointed fingers towards the PCB alone. Inzamam, who played 378 ODIs and 120 Tests for the men in green, claimed to have known from his sources that the Board wasn’t supporting them. The 50-year old labelled it as unacceptable for not having their backs during challenging times.

“The players who have tested positive would have thought that PCB is not supporting them at this difficult time. My sources have told me that the PCB’s medical staff did not attend calls of these players during the past couple of days, which is a really bad attitude.” the 50-year old stated as quoted by Times Now.

They are our players and we need to look after them so that they can fully recover: Inzamam-Ul-Haq

The Multan-born former batsman emphasized on caring for these players by the PCB. He cited the example of Mohammad Hafeez, who went on to test himself privately and claimed that the results came out as negative. Inzamam-Ul-Haq suggested that players should have been isolated at the NCA itself rather than asking to self-quarantine themselves at their respective residence.

“I would request the PCB to properly look after these players because if you don’t then incidents, like Hafeez getting himself tested privately, will happen. PCB should have kept these players [who tested positive] at the NCA, because there is enough space there, rather than telling them to self-isolate at their homes. They are our players and we need to look after them so that they can fully recover,” he added.

Despite growing concerns amongst the 29-member squad, the PCB has confirmed that England tour would go ahead. Pakistan are slated to play three Tests and three T20Is. Babar Azam would captain the T20 side while Azhar Ali will lead the Test team.

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