For the first time since June 20, Haris Rauf, who had tested positive for Covid-19 over a month ago, has returned two consecutive negative tests. As a result, it makes him eligible to join the Pakistan T20I team in England and he also got the clearance from the PCB for flying to England on Friday.
Rauf had undertaken six Covid-19 tests until July 20, out of which five were positive. There was one negative result, but conferring to protocols he was required to deliver successive negative results to be considered fit to travel to join the Pakistan team. He, however, is understood to have been an asymptomatic patient the entire time.
Chief selector and head coach Misbah ul Haq called up Mohammad Amir back while Rauf was struggling to get a negative test. Amir had previously drawn out of the tour to attend the birth of his child, but then made himself accessible later when his wife gave birth earlier this month. Irrespective of Amir’s existence with the team Rauf cannot be side-lined, as he still is a part of the PCB’s strategies for the T20I series.
The bowler was among the ten players and support staff who had been tested positive for Covid-19 in the last week of June, but continued to stay back after the bigger fraction of group flew out to Manchester on June 28 on a chartered flight. The 18 players who tested negative, along with the support staff, were the only ones to board the plane.
He was initially selected for the white-ball format, but he had expressed a desire to play Tests. But due to repeated positive results for Covid-19, his chance to do that in England during this series was hampered and didn’t allow him to join the team in time. The Pakistan administration has by now named a 20-man Test team which Rauf is not a part of. He is, nevertheless, a part of the T20 set-up, with the first T20I scheduled for August 28 in Manchester.
Haris Rauf finally tests negative for Covid-19, set to join Pakistan squad
