Negligence of PCB on breach of Covid-19 protocols (Pakistan tour of New Zealand)
Pakistan cricket team is currently on tour of New Zealand for 03 T20I and 02 Tests. Before the departure team had undergone series of Covid 19 tests but followed the protocols of ECB which is not understandable. The prevalent Covid 19 contingency demands extreme safety precautions be taken before undertaking any group/sports activity as per the host country protocols. The team had undergone only a single Covid 19 test at Lahore before departure while two tests with a designated gap of 14 days are mandatory as quarantined period.
The above news has been confirmed by espncricinfo.com (link appended below), which shows shear negligence of PCB officials and team management. The act has degraded our position in world sports community and the nation has been disgraced. We the citizens who love this game and always eager to look for any achievements by our team remained dismayed and prejudiced due to recurrence of such incidents where protocols are breached or rules and procedures have been violated.
The solution to such problems is to build up an awareness program on the Covid 19 protocols viz a viz cricket at board level. Highly experienced medical consultants must be hired to conduct briefings of players and officials on this subject. Another aspect of getting quarantined in a hotel room in a foreign country is the factor of ensued psychological stress and depression or anxiety which may lead to any unforeseen abnormal behavior from the affected person such as misbehaving with the hotel staff or fellow players. News have been reported from South Africa where England team has cancelled its tour due to positive testing amidst psychological stress cases reported within the squad.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/30442973/how-did-many-pakistan-players-test-covid-positive
The writer is a retired Air force officer who has a passion for reading and aims to pen down his thoughts with this beginning.