‘Normal conditions’: PCB mulls holding West Indies series without COVID-19 restrictions

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Thursday it was considering holding an upcoming ODI series against the West Indies without coronavirus restrictions, as cases of the infection continue to decline across the South Asian country. 
After thumping West Indies on home soil 3-0 in a T20I series, Pakistan and the visitors were scheduled to play a three-match ODI series in December 2021. However, after a COVID-19 outbreak in the West Indies squad, the series was postponed to June 2022. 
The coronavirus pandemic has put cricket boards and organizers in a quandary since 2020. An outbreak of the pandemic among cricketers forced organizers to postpone prominent cricket leagues such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in the last two years. 
Stringent safety precautions such as a bio-secure bubble, a designated space (most commonly a hotel) where squad members stay and where they are not allowed to interact with anyone else, have often taken a toll on players’ mental health, with many opting out of tours to spend extended time with families. 
PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja, in a video interview shared with Arab News, said that the board was considering holding the series in “normal conditions” in light of the information shared by its medical board.
“I believe that the West Indies series can be held the way, it [cricket] happens in normal conditions,” said Raja. “We are getting information from our medical board [saying] that you can relax these [Covid-19 related restrictions] as the COVID is no more a threat as it used to be,” he added. 
Raja, however, expressed concern that the decision could prove to be a “double-edged sword” due to the fear that even one player contracting the infection can lead to the entire series getting canceled. 
“You have a seven-day window, for example, it’s for the West Indies tour. God forbid, if one player is infected, then your series can be impacted like it happened last time,” Raja said referring to the West Indies tour getting postponed last year. 
On Thursday, a local Pakistani news channel quoted an unnamed PCB official as saying the board had decided not to include COVID-19 curbs for future matches, including doing away with a bio-secure bubble.
Geo TV said a proposal would be sent to the Cricket West Indies (CWI) to play the series without COVID-19 measures.
As per reports, players and coaching staff would be free to interact with each other, and cricket would be played as in the pre-coronavirus era. COVID-19 tests would only be conducted in case a player or staff member showed symptoms of the infection.
The same policy would be adopted in all of Pakistan’s international series and domestic tournaments, Geo said.