Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf tests positive for COVID-19 ahead of Test series against Australia

Pakistan have been handed a huge blow ahead of the start of their three-match Test series against Australia at home as fast bowler Haris Rauf has tested positive for COVID-19. The Australian cricket team is currently on a historic tour of Pakistan for the first time in 24 years. Australia are scheduled to play three Tests, as many ODIs and one T20I against the hosts.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday (March 01) confirmed that Rauf's test returned positive after being shited to a bo-secure bubble ahead of the three-match series. The entire Pakistan Test squad has undergone COVID-19 tests on Tuesday before their training session at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium which is the venue for the first Test between the two teams.

Rauf will now have to spend at least 14 days in isolation and return a negative test before he can return to action once again. He is likely to miss the first two Tests of the three-match series if he fails to recover in time. Right-arm pacer Mohammad Abbas is likely to take his spot in the Test squad.

Rauf was the only Pakistan player who tested positive as the rest of the squad returned negative tests on Tuesday. The Pakistan team has been practising in Rawalpindi ahead of the start of the Test series and will be eager to get off to a winning start in their first Test series against Australia at home after more than two decades.

The Australian cricket team arrived in Pakistan amid tight security last week and has been staying in a bio-secure bubble in Rawalpindi ahead of the first Test. Ahead of the start of the series, Aussie cricketer Ashton Agar, who is part of the squad was subjected to a death threat online.

Agar's wife received a threatening message from a social media account and alerted Cricket Australia about the same. Reacting to the controversy, Cricket Australia said it was confident about the security arrangements in Pakistan and said the message was not a 'risk'.