Australian players have left Pakistan after the country’s T20 league was abandoned because of a Covid outbreak but Fawad Ahemed remains stranded in a Karachi hotel room, unwell, unable to leave and missing his family.
The Perth Scorchers legspinner who played a handful of short-form games for Australia was the first of five Pakistan Super League players to test positive to the virus.
Officials announced on Thursday they had been forced to postpone the tournament because of the outbreak for the second successive season.
Ahmed told The Weekend Australian via WhatsApp on Friday he had been getting better but had a set back 24 hours earlier.
“Not feeling well, last couple of days went pretty well but last night fevers came back so really struggling,” he said.
“Hopefully will get through this soon InshaALLAH.
“Doctors are looking after me here, but honestly not much you can do with Covid, we will wait and see. Hopefully it goes away soon. It’s tough being alone.”
Ahmed said he was missing his family and it was “a tough time for everyone”. The bowler asked people on Twitter to pray for him when he was diagnosed on Monday.
The five other Australians participating in the tournament have flown to the UAE over the past two days.
Dan Christian, Chris Lynn and Ben Cutting will wait there until the start of the IPL next month.
Cricket Australia, the Australian Cricketers Association and the Scorchers said they had been in contact with the players and had offered them assistance to get out of Pakistan.
Ben Dunk and coach Johan Botha will attempt to get a commercial flight back to Australia.
The outbreak and decision to postpone the competition is a setback for Pakistan cricket.
The country is keen to encourage international cricket to return after years of isolation because of the terror threat.
There is confusion over how Ahmed, who lives in Melbourne with his family, came to be the first to test positive.
He tested negative before leaving Australia and negative again on arrival but was then diagnosed on the eve of a game for Islamabad United.
“Thanks for all the kind messages, please keep remember me in your prayers, much needed,” he tweeted four days ago.
Ahmed has been suffering fever, cramps and diarrhoea since the initial diagnosis.
England’s Tom Banton was among five others who also tested positive.
The decision to abandon the league has led to recriminations within Pakistan cricket with critics pointing out that it had allowed two players who breached quarantine earlier in the tournament to re-enter the bubble without isolating.
The players are staying in a Karachi hotel with franchises on separate floors but there are guests in another part of the establishment.
Pakistan cricket officials admitted the decision to abandon the PSL was a blow which would shake faith in its ability to conduct a tournament.
“Fawad and the three members who have tested positive will remain for 10 days in quarantine,” a spokesman said before more positive tests came to light. “It’s very difficult to determine how these cases emerged. You know bubble life is very difficult and its management is also difficult. In other sporting events of the world like Formula One and Australian Open such breaches occur. It does not mean that the bubbles are weak or these have loopholes. In order to reduce the chances of infection, repeat tests of the participants will be conducted on Thursday.
“Protecting the integrity and reputation of the event is our responsibility, especially of the PCB. That is why all such steps are being taken.
“Besides this we had also conducted tests of the ground staff. They have also been instructed to wear gloves when on ground. The ball which goes into the fans stands is sanitised. Umpires have wipes with them. All that work is being done in order to protect the integrity of the event.
“But we are operating in a very different environment. The entire world is facing such challenges and wherever sports events are being conducted they are meeting and overcoming such challenges. We will also try with the help of the franchise owners so that we could dispose of this event in a good way.”
PCB chief executive Wasim Khan was in Australia in the 2019-20 summer before the pandemic hit to meet with Cricket Australia officials about a tour of that country which is scheduled for early next year.
“This isn’t about a blame game, about who’s to blame,” Khan said.
“This is a collective effort that we all had a responsibility to actually police and self-police that environment. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it effectively enough. Hence we find ourselves in this situation today.
“We had a discussion this morning with the franchise owners and we came to the conclusion that it was best to postpone the event. We entered that meeting with the franchisees with one or two possible solutions, one in terms of looking to halt proceedings for five days until we were able to make sense of what was going on and see whether we could move forward. There was a strong consensus that it was untenable to continue based on the fact that it was outside of ours and others reasonable sort of areas because of what had taken place.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...n/news-story/49540e8595e61ed317d477591900c342
