Pakistan cricket team's former captain Sarfraz Ahmed was among the 11 players who were not approved to take a commercial flight to Abu Dhabi on Sunday. The remaining matches of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) are scheduled to take place in the extremely humid and hot weather of Abu Dhabi, next month.
The T20 league was postponed in March after just 14 matches due to rising Coronavirus cases inside PSL bio-bubble. There are still 20 matches to be held in the 6-team tournament.
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“Five persons from this PSL contingent were cleared to fly, while the others had to return to their hotels where they have been in quarantine since May 24,” read the report in ESPNcricinfo. As per the report, the players did not have the required clearances and hence they were denied boarding the flights.
From Pakistan, 202 players, support staff and match officials have reached UAE to complete the remaining matches of Pakistan Super League (PSL). Even 25 people from India, involved with the broadcasting team, have been allowed to board flight for UAE. PSL is slated to start from June 5. The schedule of the remaining PSL matches is yet to be announced.
Pakistan is scheduled to tour England on June 22. The team will play a three-match ODI series and three T20 matches in July. The Pakistan vs England ODI series will start from July 8, while the Pak vs Eng T20 series will start from July 16.
“We have a strategy to use coconut water as much as we can to maintain body temperature. Since most of the games will be played at night, we are not worried about heat strokes,” Mohammad Akram, Peshawar Zalmi head coach, was quoted as saying.