Former Pakistan opener Taufeeq Umar tests positive for Coronavirus

The coronavirus has spread across the world like wildfire in the past few months. Due to this, almost the entire world is going through a lockdown. Sporting events have dried out and cricket has been one of the most affected sports. The cricket fraternity received a really sad update from Pakistan. Former opening batsman Taufeeq Umar has been tested positive with COVID-19.

There have been reports from ‘Cricket Pakistan’ website that the ex-batsman is in self-isolation at his home given his condition. He has now become the fourth cricketer to have been affected by the disease. Unfortunately, he is also the second cricketer from Pakistan to contract COVID-19. During the initial days of the outbreak in the country, Former first-class cricketer Zafar Sarfaraz lost his life to the disease in Peshawar. He was 50 years old.

Taufeeq Umar becomes the second cricketer in Pakistan to get COVID-19

Umar is remembered as one of the promising talents to have come out of Pakistan in the early 2000s. The 38-year-old made quite an impression during his formative years in the international. He was part of the national team which played at the Cricket World Cup 2003.

He opened the innings for Pakistan quite frequently during the 2000s in Tests. The left-handed batsman played 44 Tests, scoring 2963 runs at an average of 38. He is also one of the few cricketers from his countries to score a century on Test debut. Umar went on to hit seven centuries and 14 fifties in Tests. His career-best knock of 236 runs came against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi in 2011.

His ODI records weren’t as impressive as his red-ball game. The batsman played 22 ODIs and scored only 504 runs at an average of 24. After being in and out of the national team due to inconsistent performances, the Lahore-born player went out of favour after 2014, when he played his last Test.

In 2016, he announced his retirement from competitive cricket. He, later on, went on to participate in the now-defunct Master’s Champions League in the UAE.

Coming back to the COVID-19, apart from Umar and Sarfaraz, the two other players who have been affected with COVID-19 are Majid Haq and Solo Nqweni. The Scotland spinner, Haq was tested positive in March and recovered successfully. Nqweni, the South African first-class player, was tested positive earlier this month.