All South Africa-bound Pakistan players return negative COVID-19 tests

In good news for Pakistan, all of their 35 players picked for the limited-overs tour of South Africa have now returned negative COVID-19 tests and are prepared to fly out to South Africa on March 26.

Exactly a week ago, one player had tested positive for the virus and had to stay back at his residence while the rest of the squad moved ahead to kickstart training on March 19 followed by two intrasquad 50-over games on March 20 and 22.

The player who tested positive, meanwhile, had to return a negative test at home, only after which he was allowed to travel to Lahore. In Lahore, after two days of isolation, he had to return another negative test to be able to join up with the squad. He did that over the course of the week and is now among a squad with a clean bill of health.

The tour will kickstart with the three ODIs, from April 2, followed by the four T20Is from April 10.