The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) CEO Wasim Khan stated a couple of days ago that the decision of sending the national team for the tour of England was extremely difficult.
However, with the successful hosting of the Test series between England and West Indies, the doubts regarding the resumption of cricket during Covid-19 pandemic has been taken to the cleaners.
The series between Pakistan and England is due to start on the 5th of August in Manchester and the series will also follow the new ICC guidelines for cricket resumption during Covid period.
According to the new guidelines, the teams that are touring a particular country will have to stay in a 14-day quarantine period after their arrival. After the quarantine period ends, the squads will gather in a bio-secure bubble for practice and intra-squad matches.
The matches are going to be played behind closed doors to avoid the risk of the virus getting spread and the bowlers are also forbidden to use the Saliva on the ball. Instead of Saliva, the ICC has allowed the bowlers to use Sweat in order to shine the ball.
The series between England and West Indies has been played with all these restrictions and new guidelines and there were no crowds either in any of the three-Test matches. The ongoing series between the two teams has also proven the fact that cricket can be safely resumed under the aforementioned guidelines and things are now set up nicely for Pakistan-England series.
The Men in Green landed in the UK just over a month ago and they have been practicing hard on their skills under the supervision of the Head Coach and Chief Selector Misbah ul Haq. The PCB has also appointed the former captain and record holder Younis Khan as the batting coach for the tour of England given his experience and past performances in the country.
The 29-member squad announced by the PCB is getting accustomed to the conditions and experts are saying that it is a golden chance for Pakistan to clinch the Test series victory against England in their backyard.
The boys in green last won a Test series in England under the captaincy of the legendary Wasim Akram in 1996. However, the recent record of Pakistan in England is not bad at all. The last two Test series between the two countries were drawn in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
This time around, the Shaheens are going in with a good mixture of experience and youth in their squad and one can expect some great individual performances. As far as the overall Test series is concerned, Misbah and the company will have to work really hard for that.
