Pak vs WI: Huge blow to West Indies as 3 players, team official test COVID-19 positive

KARACHI: West Indies suffered a huge blow ahead of its T20I series against Pakistan after it was confirmed that the touring cricketers, along with a non-coaching member of the squad, have tested positive for COVID-19 and are ruled out of the series.

A statement from Cricket West Indies said that following the PCR tests administered on arrival in Pakistan, four members of the West Indies touring party tested positive for COVID-19 and are now in self-isolation.

“Left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell, allrounders Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers, along with a non-coaching member of the team management unit returned positive tests in Karachi and will therefore be unavailable to participate in the upcoming Pakistan series. All four members are fully vaccinated and are without major symptoms,” the CWI said.

The development hasn’t changed the schedule of the Pakistan-West Indies series and it is set to go ahead as scheduled.

Johnny Grave, the CEO of Cricket West Indies, said that this unusual loss of three players from the squad will seriously impact the team's preparations, but the rest of the squad are in good spirits.

“Despite this significant setback to our preparation plans, we are confident that the tour can continue as everyone else returned negative PCRs prior to their arrival into Pakistan and two negative PCRs since they have been in Karachi,” he said.

“The risk of COVID-19 infection is impossible to remove completely from a cricket tour, in spite of the fact that many of our players have been living in bio-secure bubbles almost continuously since before the Caribbean Premier League,” he added.

All four individuals will remain isolated from the rest of the West Indies squad and will remain in isolation for 10 days and until they return negative PCR test results.

The three-match T20I series starts on Monday, December 13 in Karachi.