PCB’s medical panel in hot water following PSL 2021 setback: report

Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Medical and Sports Sciences head, Dr Sohail Saleem, is facing the heat after country’s premier Twenty20 tournament, Pakistan Super League (PSL), was postponed indefinitely following emergence of multiple Covid-19 cases in the bio-secure bubble.

According to a report by Cricket Pakistan, PCB officials are holding Dr Sohail responsible for the loopholes observed in event’s bio-secure bubble arrangements.

“The board has lost confidence in Sohail’s capabilities in arranging bio-secure environment, which is why PCB is likely to hire a foreign company, from England or Australia, for all the arrangements in this regard for future PSL matches,” the report stated.

It added that PCB will give Dr Sohail an option to quit himself or he might end up getting fired by the Board. The doctor had also reportedly traveled with the national cricket team in England and New Zealand tours to have a first-hand experience of the SOPs followed in those countries.

Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar had also criticized the PCB’s medical panel and appealed the authorities to take strict action against them adding that they played with the lives of people.

“It was the responsibility of medical panel to complete the bio-secure bubble. They didn’t only damage Pakistan cricket, but also put lives in danger,” he said.

“The kind of medical panel that PCB has include doctors who wouldn’t be allowed to even sit in any hospital. They were so incompetent they could not even comprehend what the bio-secure bubbles are like,” Akhtar added. 

Read: Shoaib Akhtar defends Wasim Khan, asks Ehsan Mani ‘where are you?’

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