Covid-hit Haris Rauf dropped for first Test, Naseem Shah called up

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan were forced to make a third change in their squad for the first of the three upcoming Tests against Australia after pacer Haris Rauf tested positive for Covid-19 after a Rapid Antigen Test on Tuesday.

The home side had already lost frontline pacer Hasan Ali and bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf due to injuries ahead of the first game, which is set to start in Rawalpindi on Friday.

While Hasan and Faheem have been replaced by all-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed and pacer Mohammad Wasim, fast-bowler Naseem Shah, who was originally named as a travelling reserve, will come in place of Haris.

“Haris will remain in isolation for five days and will reintegrate with the squad after a negative test at the end of his isolation period,” said a Pakistan Cricket Board statement on Tuesday. “Following Rauf’s positive test on Tuesday, rest of the squad members and support personnel were retested. All these tests have come out negative.”

Australia are touring Pakistan for the first time after their 1998 visit. Led by Pat Cummins, they will play the second and third Tests in Karachi and Lahore respectively before taking on Babar Azam’s men for three One-day Inter­nationals and a solitary T20I in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan squad for first Test: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood.