Like the other sports, cricket has also faced indefinite stoppage amid the novel COVID-19 or coronavirus outbreak. The virus suddenly shook the cricket world when the wrong news was roaming about Alex Hales’ positive report in coronavirus case, who was earlier busy in the fifth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL 2020). His PSL franchise (Karachi Kings) owner Salman Iqbal has recently revealed how Hales’ scary message pressed the panic button for the PSL 2020.
Despite the coronavirus already started to dominate the world, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) continued the PSL 2020 with extra special care but also put the choice for the foreign players that they could return to their home. England cricketer Alex Hales, who was playing for Karachi Kings, was one of those who chose to leave the tournament in the middle.
After the news was roaming that Alex Hales tested positive in coronavirus cases, he rubbished the news and clarified that he had some fever, a dry and persistent cough, but didn’t involve in the test yet.
On the other hand, Salman Iqbal has recently revealed that Hales informed him that he had the coronavirus symptoms.
According to BBC, Salman claimed, “It was two o’clock in the morning in Pakistan and we had a message from Alex Hales saying: ‘Boss, I have symptoms of Covid-19 and I think you should all get tested.”
I was trying hard to get somebody to Birmingham to get Alex Hales tested: Karachi Kings owner
After hearing that news from Hales, the team was in panic due to the fear. Later, every one of the team was tested and the tournament was postponed on 17th March 2020.
Salman added, “I then got a call from coach Dean Jones saying he wanted to meet straight away.
“We were all scared. If you have the symptoms, you have to be isolated. I was trying hard to get somebody to Birmingham to get Hales tested.
“I even asked if my doctor from London would go to him but it couldn’t happen.
“In the end, we had to get everyone in the team tested. All of them started panicking and we postponed the tournament the next day.”
The league stage of the PSL 2020 was already concluded, while according to the revised schedule, both the semi-finals would be played on 17th March 2020. But on the morning of the scheduled semi-finals, the PCB decided to postpone the tournament.
It was the first time when Pakistan was organising the entire tournament of a PSL season. Before leaving the PSL 2020, Hales scored 239 runs in five innings (seven matches) with an average of 59.75 and strike-rate of 156.20, including two half-centuries.