Cricket-Pakistan drop Haider from squad for PSL bubble breach

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan have dropped Haider Ali from their tour of England and West Indies after the batsman and his Peshawar Zalmi team mate Umaid Asif broke COVID-19 protocols in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Abu Dhabi, the cricket board said on Thursday.

Both have been suspended from the PSL final against Multan Sultans later on Thursday after admitting to meeting people from outside their designated bio-secure bubble and flouting social distancing norms on Wednesday.

"The two cricketers were found not to have interacted with any other squad members at any time after the incident and have been placed in room isolation," the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.

Sohaib Maqsood, who last played for Pakistan in a T20 match in New Zealand more than five years ago, will replace Haider in the squad.

Pakistan will leave for England on Friday to play three one-day and an equal number of T20 matches there.

Babar Azam's side will leave for Manchester on Friday to play three one-dayers and three T20 matches in England.

From there, they will fly to West Indies to play five T20 matches and two test matches.

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Emeleia Sithole-Matarise)