Pakistan have been forced to make more changes to their squad for the opening Test against Australia after fast bowler Haris Rauf was ruled out due to COVID-19. As a result, Naseem Shah, who was originally a travelling reserve, has been added to the squad.
Rauf will now remain in isolation for five days following the positive test and will rejoin the squad once his quarantine is over. The PCB also confirmed that the rest of the squad and support staff were retested following Rauf’s positive result with all tests coming out negative.
Even though Rauf has never played a Test match for Pakistan, he is now a regular member of the white-ball squads and was in frame to make his bow in red-ball cricket in Rawalpindi following injuries to Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf.
19-year-old Naseem, whose last Test appearance came in January 2021 in Christchurch, is now likely to battle it out with Mohammad Wasim Jr for a spot in the playing XI for the Test that gets underway on March 4
