Captain Babar Azam hopes to keep Pakistan’s winning momentum going against a virus-hit West Indies in the limited-overs series starting here on Monday.

Left-arm quick Sheldon Cottrell, and all-rounders Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers are the three Windies cricketers to have tested Covid positive and were ruled out of the T20I series.

They will be in isolation here for 10 days and monitored by the team physician until they return negative tests.

The Windies squad is already without several top performers for the three-match T20I series, which will be followed by three ODIs, also to be held here in Karachi. The notable absentees include white-ball skipper Kieron Pollard, who’s out due to the hamstring injury he sustained during the T20 World Cup, while Andre Russell is busy with the Big Bash League in Australia.

“We will try to carry on with the momentum, which we gained during the (T20) World Cup,” Babar told reporters on Sunday.

“We are not going to take the Windies easy just because they didn’t bring some of their best players.

“They have played in the CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and international games, so you have to give your 100 per cent to beat them.”