The Pakistan Cricket Board had announced that several players from the squad that was about to travel for England tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Now, the officials confirmed on Saturday that ten players from Pakistan's cricket team have been dropped for the England tour after they tested positive for the coronavirus for a second time.

The Pakistani squad of 18 members is scheduled to leave on Sunday for England. Giving some hope to the left out players, Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Wasim Khan said they could rejoin the squad if they later test negative for the disease.

The ten players to miss out are Haider Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Kashif Bhatti, Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan, Mohammad Hafeez.

The squad will have to undergo a 14-day isolation period after arriving in England before starting practice for the series.

"They (Pakistan team) will start a 14-day isolation period at Blackfinch New Road, Worcester before transferring to Derbyshire's The Incora County Ground on July 13 to accelerate their preparation ahead of the first Test, which will include two four-day internal warm-up matches," stated the ECB.

"All members of the tour party will have been tested prior to travel. Those who are testing positive for COVID-19 will not be permitted to travel with the advance group on Sunday," it added.

Recently, former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has slammed PCB medical staff for their treatment of the players who had tested positive for Covid-19. Speaking about the issue on his Youtube channel, Inzamam said that his sources have told him that the players' calls were left unattended.

"My sources have told me that the PCB's medical staff did not attend calls of these players for two days, which is a really bad attitude," Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.

"The players were sent home, I felt they should have been take care for. The players who have tested positive would have thought that PCB is not supporting them at this difficult time," he added.

Several top players including Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz and Fakhar Zaman tested positive for Covid-19. A total of 10 out of the 29 selected for the England tour tested positive.

Hafeez's case has now taken a mysterious turn after the veteran all-rounder claimed he has tested negative, followed by another positive test. Inzamam asked PCB to take good care of the players else a situation like that of Hafeez's might happen again.

Pakistan are scheduled to play three Test matches and three T20 internationals on their upcoming tour of England.

Squad : Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmad, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Rohail Nazir, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari and Yasir Shah.