Pakistan players tested negative for COVID-19 ahead of the national high-performance camp

All the 27 members of the Pakistan squad have tested negative for COVID-19 after they went through first set of tests at their residence ahead of the high-performance camp starting formally in Karachi on Saturday (October 10), The Pakistan Cricket Board( PCB) said in a statement on Wednesday(October 7)



PCB, on October 2, announced a 24-day camp from October 8 to October 31 at the National Stadium and Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre in Karachi. The squad will undergo be involved in sessions covering skill-work and fitness.



The players will arrive in Karachi on Thursday (October 8) and the PCB will provide them separate accommodation before undergoing another set of tests ahead of moving into a bio-secure bubble. A third round of testing will be done during the camp and they will adhere to bio-secure protocols at their hotel in Karachi.



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PCB also announced the support personnel to oversee the training at the camp. Azam Khan has been named as the lead coach and Kamran Hussain will assist him. Saboor Ahmed is the strength and conditioning coach. Zubair Ahmed has been appointed as the analyst for the camp. Rabia Amir is the physio and Fizza Abid will be managing the camp. All the support staff also tested negative during the first round of COVID-19 tests.



Specialist coaches for the National High-Performance Centre in Karachi will also be overseeing the camp along with the named support staff to help the players to get back to cricket post the extended break.



Pakistan last played competitive cricket during their campaign in the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia in March. They were scheduled to play in the Women's World Cup Qualifier in Sri Lanka in July, but the International Cricket Council( ICC) rescheduled the Qualifier owing to the global pandemic before postponing the World Cup to 2022.



As part of PCB’s plan for the resumption of cricket activities in the country the players will undergo skill and fitness work before playing practice one-day and T20 matches ahead of the upcoming domestic season for the year 2020-21.



The domestic schedule for the women cricketers is yet to be announced although the men’s teams have resumed playing domestic cricket last week. According to PCB’s statement, women’s players will compete in limited over tournament, schedule for which will be announced in due course.



Training squad: Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Naseem, Ayesha Zafar, Bismah Maroof, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana Khan, Iram Javed, Javeria Khan, Javeria Rauf, Kainat Imtiaz, Kaynat Hafeez, Maham Tariq, Muneeba Ali, Nahida Khan, Najiha Alvi, Nashra Sandhu, Natalia Pervaiz, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Saba Nazir, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz and Syeda Aroob Shah