Peshawar Zalmi’s Haider Ali and Umaid Asif have been suspended from Pakistan Super League (PSL) final against Multan Sultans in Abu Dhabi after the duo admitted to charges of violating the tournament’s health and safety protocols by meeting people from outside their bio-secure bubbles. They also failed to maintain the prescribed social distancing.
A press release from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that the incident occurred on Wednesday and the decision to withdraw the two players was taken on the morning of the final by the tournament’s Covid-19 management panel comprising PCB chief operating officer Barrister Salman Naseer and Director-Commercial and PSL 6 head Babar Hamid.
“The two cricketers were found not to have interacted with any other squad members at any time after the incident and have been placed in room isolation,” the PCB said.
For the same reason, Ali has also been withdrawn from the upcoming tours of England and the West Indies and replaced by Sohaib Maqsood.
Earlier in March, PCB had reportedly allowed Wahab Riaz and Daren Sammy to reintegrate with the Peshawar Zalmi team without completing the three-day quarantine period after the two had allegedly breached COVID-19 protocols before the postponement of PSL6. The violation took place when the two met franchise owner Javed Afridi outside the team’s bio-security bubble. Similarly, Naseem Shah was ruled out of PSL after he broke COVID-19 protocols but later when his test was clear and accepting his mistake, he was allowed to join the rest of the team in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, Sultans, who made it to the finals for the first time, will face the four-time finalists Zalmis on Wednesday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
