DHAKA: Former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza, 36, has been tested positive for COVID-19.
A Member of Bangladesh’s Parliament, Mortaza hasn’t announced retirement from the game yet and is presently in home isolation.
“My brother has had a fever for two days. He did the test last night. Today came the test positive. He is at home in isolation,” Morsalin, Mortaza’s brother, told Cricbuzz.
Mortaza, who has played 220 ODIs, 36 Tests and 54 T20Is in his illustrious career, has been helping people during the pandemic. In March, he had decided to support 300 families affected by COVID-19.
Bangladesh, which recently crossed the 1,00,000 mark, has so far witnessed over 1,05,000 cases of COVID-19 patients. Nearly 43,000 people have recovered from it while the country has recorded over 1,300 deaths.
Mortaza is the second Bangladesh cricketer to test positive for COVID-19. A few hours back, it was confirmed that Nafees Iqbal has also tested positive.
The elder brother of Bangladesh’s ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, Nafees played 11 Tests and 16 ODIs from 2003 to 2006. He is under home isolation.
“I had the first symptom ten days ago. I had a fever and had aches and pains in the body but had recovered by the third day.
But I still took the COVID-19 test just to be sure and the result came back positive. I am doing fine at the moment,” Nafees said.
Mortaza, meanwhile, is the fifth international cricketer to test positive for the infection. Scotland’s Majid Haq was the first cricketer to announce that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
In May, former Pakistan opener Taufeeq Umar also tested positive – he has now recovered. Last week, Pakistan legend Shahid Afridi had also tested positive for COVID-19 while on Saturday, the news of Mortaza and Nafees testing positive was also confirmed. Zafar Sarfraz and Riaz Sheikh, Pakistan’s former first-class players, had succumbed to COVID-19.
(With input from Agencies)
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