Wasim Khan: We took every precaution we possibly we could

The decision to postpone the final stages of the Pakistan Super League came after an overseas player who has already left Pakistan began to show symptoms of the virus after returning home

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Pakistan Cricket Board managing director Wasim Khan has explained the reasoning behind the postponement of the Pakistan Super League’s final stages.

Multan Sultans were due to face Peshawar Zalmi followed by Karachi Kings taking on Lahore Qalandars, ahead of a final on Wednesday.

However, the decision came after a player who has already left Pakistan – believed to be Alex Hales – began to show symptoms of the virus after returning home.

“Now is not the time to think about financial losses or anything else,” Khan said after the announcement had been made. “There’s a pandemic, there’s a world crisis going on. We owe it to our government as well to support it through the messaging that we can provide.

“We thank the local governments for the advisories that they’ve given. But ultimately, the safety of our nation, of our people comes ahead of any cricket match. It’s important that we use the platform of cricket to get that message across loud and clear.”

Arrangements have been made for all members of playing and support staff from the four remaining teams to be tested for COVID-19 as a precaution.

The traditional playoff phase had already been replaced by two semi-finals followed by a final – all to be played behind closed doors – in light of the crisis.

However, it was announced on Tuesday morning that the ending to the landmark tournament – it was the first time that the PSL had been played fully on Pakistani soil – would be rescheduled.

The vast majority of overseas players had returned home as a response to the virus and to the threat of closing borders worldwide.

^{The semi-finals and final of the Pakistan Super League have been postponed}

Khan added: “When we found out there was a suspected case, we immediately moved to make a decision. We believe that it’s a leadership decision we had to make very quickly. We consulted with all the local governments, taking advice from them.

“We gave players the option to leave the HBL PSL, should they wish to leave. We preponed the number of matches to try and bring everything forward. We reduced the number of days to get to this situation where we played a semi-final and a final, so we took all the measures we possibly could but ultimately, when we heard there was a suspected case, we moved on very quickly.

“People could argue should we have waited this long. We believe that on the advisory of the local governments, we continued to take every precaution we possibly could.

“We’ve got to the stage now, where we’ve had a reported suspected case and, on the back of that, we don’t need to wait to see if there’s been a positive or negative test. We’ve made the decision to move on that very quickly and postpone and reschedule for a later time.”

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There will inevitably be questions of when the competition is rescheduled; the nature of the franchise circuit is such that there are few moments at which overseas players are all available.

Ravi Bopara played for Multan Sultans, who topped the round-robin phase; he asked his followers on Twitter “who should get the trophy”.

Hales, Tymal Mills, Rilee Rossouw, James Vince, Tom Banton, Carlos Brathwaite, Liam Dawson, Lewis Gregory, Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy all announced their exits in an initial wave of departures after the Pakistan Cricket Board informed all overseas players that they had the option to return home.

Mitch McClenaghan, Luke Ronchi, Dale Steyn, Dawid Malan, Chris Lynn and Colin Munro then followed, with countries worldwide closing their borders.