Centurion, Dec 25 (IANS) Ahead of playing the Boxing Day Test against South Africa at the SuperSport Park on Thursday, Pakistan skipper Shan Masood said the return of pacers Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Abbas is a welcome development for his team.
While Shahzad is back after a rib injury, that kept him out of action after Pakistan lost to Bangladesh 2-0 in August, while Abbas is in the Test set-up after last playing the longer format for the side in August 2021.
“The return of pacer Khurram Shahzad, who did really well on his debut in Australia and the seasoned campaigner Mohammad Abbas is a welcome development for Pakistan’s Test side looking to bag wins in one of the toughest conditions for overseas teams,” said Masood in a PCB statement on Wednesday.
The two-match Test series against South Africa is Aqib Javed’s first red-ball coaching assignment after taking charge of the team in the white-ball series against Zimbabwe last month. In their ongoing tour to South Africa, Pakistan lost the three-match T20I series 2-0, but came back strongly to get a historic 3-0 win in the ODI series.
Pakistan would be aiming to get a Test win in South Africa after 18 years, while a win for South Africa at Centurion would guarantee their place in next year’s World Test Championship Final at Lord’s.
“We are eagerly looking forward to measure ourselves against South Africa, who have always been one of the top sides in the world. We have got some momentum from the recently concluded home Test series against England and the ODI series, which featured a number of our Test squad members.
“We know South Africa have done well in this iteration of the ICC World Test Championship but we have prepared for this series in the best possible manner as well after having arrived in the country at least two weeks ago,” added Masood.
Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha
South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (captain), David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wk)
–IANS
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