31 members of Pakistan squad leave for Manchester today.

Byline: Mohammad Yaqoob

LAHORE -- After days of uncertainty and conflicting reports, finally it was announced by Pakistan Cricket Board on Saturday that 20 cricketers and 11 backroom staff members will be leaving for Manchester on Sunday by a chartered flight.

The visitors will face England in three Tests and as many three Twenty20 Internationals after 31 members of the squad had cleared back-to-back Covid-19 tests.

Earlier, the PCB had planned to send 29 cricketers and 14 officials on the trip but 10 cricketers tested positive in the first round of Covid-19 tests conducted last week. Team's masseur Malang Ali had also tested positive.

However, in the second round of tests, only four cricketers - Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Kashif Bhatti and Imran Khan - tested positive while Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hasnnain, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Rizwan all tested negative.

But the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said it will only allow those cricketers and officials whose back-to-back tests are negative.

The 10 players testing positive in the first round will again appear for a third round of tests which is most likely to be conducted in first week of July and in case of negative reports, they will be eligible to leave for England.

The testing process, however, raised several questions as within two days six players have tested negative who were declared positive a week earlier. Both Hafeez and Wahab went to other labs for personal tests after their tests conducted by PCB had come positive. And both the players tested negative in the independently conducted tests. Now they have also been cleared by the PCB's approved lab. The PCB, however, expressed displeasure over Hafeez going to public and sharing his negative report.

Among the five reserves, two have been included in the squad - uncapped wicket-keeper Rohail Nazir and paceman Musa Khan - to complete a 20-member squad. Among the reserves the only positive case was Imran Butt while the other three - Musa, Bilal Asif and Mohammad Nawaz - tested negative.

Pakistan, who are being led by Azhar Ali, will play the first Test from Aug 5, while Babar Azam will take over the reins for the T20 games.

The only man player missing from the Test series is wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan who also tested positive. However, the PCB is hopeful about his second test coming negative soon and he could join the team in mid-July.

'Upon arrival in Manchester, the squad will be transported to...