PCB lashes out at Mohammad Hafeez for taking private COVID-19 test without permission

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday admonished Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez for breaching their protocol by testing himself privately for COVID-19, without prior consent from the board. This comes days after Hafeez was among the ten Pakistan players who had tested positive for the virus.

Hafeez decided to take a second opinion on his own, the result of which turned out to be negative.The tests carried out by the PCB were done by Shaukat Khanum Laboratory.

Hafeez opted for another test in his personal capacity at Chugtai Laboratory in Lahore. On Wednesday, Hafeez shared the results of his COVID-19 test with his family and followers via Twitter.

After Tested positive COVID-19 acc to PCB testing Report yesterday,as 2nd opinion & for satisfaction I personally went to Test it again along with my family and here I along with my all family members are reported Negetive Alham du Lillah. May Allah keep us all safe 🤲🏼 pic.twitter.com/3WKOkXisdp

— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) June 24, 2020

This has not gone down too well with the PCB. The board’s CEO Wasim Khan spoke to the experienced cricketer on Wednesday to make it clear that Mohammad Hafeez's actions were disappointing. During the conversation, he was told that he should have spoken to the PCB before taking any such actions by undermining the testing protocols.

“I spoke to Mohammad Hafeez today and I made it clear to him our disappointment at the way he had handled this entire affair. As an individual, he has a right to take a private test but he should have spoken to us first because he created a problem for us," he said.

Mohammad Hafeez: A regular offender for Pakistan?

Wasim Khan also went on to state that this isn’t the first time that Mohammad Hafeez had breached the rules, especially when it came to social media.

"This is not the first time that Mohammad Hafeez has breached our rules in the media. He doesn’t have a central contract but once he was selected for the Pakistan team he has to abide by the rules and regulations for all players especially pertaining to the use of social media. We are still looking at the matter because it has caused us a lot of problems,” PCB CEO said on Cricket Baaz Youtube Channel.

PCB set to test all players again

Following the incident, the PCB has decided to test all players again on the 25th and 26th of June in lieu of their upcoming tour of England, which will see Pakistan play 3 Tests and 3 T20Is against the Three Lions.

The ten players who have tested positive have been asked to home quarantine and will have to test negative twice to stand a chance to gain a place in the squad which will tour England next month.