South Africa have won the toss and elected to bowl first in the opening Test of the two-match series against Pakistan at SuperSport Park, Centurion.
Pakistan has included Babar Azam, who is just three runs short of completing 4,000 runs in Test cricket, in the first Test. Babar has scored 3,997 runs in 55 Test matches at an average of 54.46, with nine centuries.
To make room for the star batter, out-of-form opener Abdullah Shafique, who was dismissed for a duck in all three ODIs against South Africa, has been dropped from the Test squad and, as a result, captain Shan Masood will open the innings alongside Saim Ayub.
The Test squad has also seen return of the experienced fast bowler Mohammad Abbas, who last played for Pakistan against West Indies in August 2021. He has forced his way back in the squad with 31 scalps in five Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches this season.
Fast bowler Khurram Shahzad, who was ruled out of the three-match home Test series against England due to injury has returned to the squad too.
Aqib Javed is the interim head coach of Pakistan men’s team and this will be his first red-ball series after taking the charge in the white-ball series against Zimbabwe last month.
Head to head
Pakistan and South Africa have played each other in 12 Test series since 1995, out of which seven have been won by South Africa while Pakistan emerged victorious in two, while three ended-up as draws.
In the recent most Test series between the two nations, Pakistan beat South Africa 2-0 at home in Jan-Feb 2021.
PLAYING XIs
Pakistan: Shan Masood (C), Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Abbas.
South Africa: Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (C), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson, and Corbin Bosch.
