ISLAMABAD:Naseem Shah, who was originally a travelling reserve, has been included in the Pakistan squad for the first Test against Australia, after Haris Rauf was ruled out when testing positive for COVID-19.
Haris would remain in isolation for five days and will reintegrate with the squad after a negative test at the end of his isolation period.
Following Rauf’s positive test on Tuesday, rest of the squad members and support personnel were retested. All these tests have come out negative.
The squad for first Test includes Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zahid Mahmood.
Test schedule: March 4-8– 1st Test, Rawalpindi; March 12-16– 2nd Test, Karachi and March 21-25– 3rd Test, Lahore.