Pakistan cricket team suffered a major blow as fast bowler, Haris Rauf, tested positive for Coronavirus ahead of the first Test match against Australia scheduled to start on March 4 at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
According to the details, the pacer had joined the national team for the training session in Rawalpindi Stadium where his Covid-19 test result came positive while the other teammates returned negative results. The team doctor has advised the pacer to keep himself in isolation.
This predicament has posed a dilemma for the national team management as earlier last week, Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf were also ruled out of the first Test due to injuries however, the cricket board had announced Waseem Jnr. and Iftikhar Ahmed as their replacements.
It will be interesting to see what bowling line-up will Pakistan go with in the first Test match as three of their main pacers have been ruled out. It is expected that one of Naseem Shah and Mohammad Abbas will be called up to the main squad from the reserve pool.
Haris has played a lot of white-ball cricket since his debut and he was all set to enter the longest format of cricket in the upcoming Test match against Australia. In the recently concluded Pakistan Super League, the right-arm pacer peaked at the right moment as he played his part in Lahore’s title win.
Haris took 16 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 29.37 and supported Shaheen Shah in taking Lahore Qalandars into the final.
