Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that the bio-secure bubble employed for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 was broken and compromised on several occasions.
The PCB had constituted a two-member committee of infectious diseases experts to investigate what exactly went wrong with regards to the bio-secure bubble used for PSL 6 earlier this year.
Dr Syed Faisal Mahmood and Dr Salma Muhammad Abbas, the committee’s two members, submitted a final report on the matter to Ehsan Mani, the PCB chairman, on March 31.
Mani will take a final decision for the probe after thoroughly studying the report and sharing its details with fellow board members.
However, according to a PTI report,
a source privy to the findings of the committee said that while it had not blamed any particular individual, the report had confirmed that there were several occasions when the bubble was compromised during the tournament in Karachi.
The report stated the source further, saying that the two-member probe committee also made recommendations to the PCB on how possibly they can safely host the remaining fixtures for PSL 6 when it resumes.
The board was forced to postpone the competition in March despite not even half of the scheduled 34 matches being completed as there were multiple COVID-19 positive cases observed among people involved in the event.
Overseas players Fawad Ahmed, Tom Banton, Lewis Gregory, as well as some local cricketers and officials were tested positive for the contagious virus despite not moving out of the bio-bubble at any stage, which reflected how the protocols weren’t followed with utmost seriousness.
Interestingly, the source said the experts had mentioned that some stakeholders had even brought to notice of some PCB officials about the bio-secure breaches but they didn’t respond proactively,
read the PTI report.
The PCB has promised strict action against those officials and employees who are found responsible for not executing the bio-secure bubble protocols perfectly for everyone’s safety.
Just after the postponement of the tournament on March 4, the head of PCB’s medical and sports sciences department, Dr Sohail Saleem, had submitted his resignation to the board chairman.
From the games played so far in PSL 6, Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi are No.1 & No.2 in the points table, respectively, with three wins and two losses in five matches each.
Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars are No.3 and No.4 after winning three of their four matches, respectively, including one loss.
Multan Sultans are fifth in the six-team standings, whereas Quetta Gladiators are in the last position. Both the teams have just one win in their five matches, with four defeats.
The top 4 teams will make it through to the playoffs for the tournament.
In March, just days after the competition was postponed, the PCB met all the six PSL franchises for discussions to find a suitable window to resume the league’s sixth edition.
Initially, all the officials were looking at a period from later in March through April. However, that depended mainly on convincing Cricket South Africa (CSA) to postpone the limited-overs series against Pakistan to another slot in the calendar.
But with CSA declining the request, the PCB had to settle for June.
Pakistan have already played the first two ODIs of their three-match series in South Africa on a tour that also features four T20Is.
The team will then fly across to Zimbabwe for three T20Is and two Test matches scheduled from April 21 to May 11.
According to the international calendar, Pakistan are due to travel to England in the summer for three ODIs and three T20Is between July 8 to 20.
That means the remaining matches of PSL 6 could be held in a window after Pakistan’s Zimbabwe tour and before their England visit.
