Pakistan eye rare Test whitewash over Proteas

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan are eyeing a rare opportunity to clean sweep a quality opposition following seven years of long wait as the second Test against South Africa begins here at the Pindi Stadium today (Thursday) amid hopes that playing strip would be more or less the same as the two teams found at the National Stadium in Karachi for the series opener.

It was in 2014-15 in the UAE when Pakistan last swept aside Australia 2-0. Since then there had been an anxious wait but the opportunity finally came here at the Pindi Stadium where Pakistan now hope to make South Africa pay for their inability to handle quality spin on a turning track.

All the efforts have been made by the curators to prepare a track on the lines of National Stadium where the hosts emerged victorious by seven wickets to go 1-0 up in the series. Pakistan captain Babar Azam was excited to see the surface and later admitted during a media interaction that the pitch was more or less the same as was there during the first Test.

“The pitch looks the same as we found during the first Test in Karachi. It is dry and hopefully would help spinners. The only difference is that the weather here is a bit cool. Conditions are overcast, yet I feel that the pitch will be helpful for spinners.”

Babar’s statement on the Pindi Stadium’s pitch is a clear indication that Pakistan’s think-tank would retain the same combination that played the first Test.

“Playing four seamers looks a far cry at this point of time. We would see the condition, the weather forecast for the next five days before deciding on our combination for the second Test. We would finalise it Thursday morning,” Babar said.

Mark Boucher, visiting team’s head coach, also had the same views about the track.

“It is totally void of grass. Though the stadium has a history of producing seaming tracks, the one we are looking at is totally dry. The grass that was there three days earlier has gone now. But yet I feel there will be some early moisture because of the weather. Yet we are looking forward to covering both the angles as we are not sure yet on our final combination.”

Boucher was still unsure of orthodox spinner Tabriz Shamsi’s inclusion in the line-up. “His exclusion was a big loss ahead of the first Test. Though he bowled long in the nets today we are not sure about his back problem. Let’s wait and see what would be the status of his problem early Thursday.”

Boucher, however, predicted some ups and downs on the strip prepared for the second Test. “I feel there may be a double bounce. In that case bowlers hitting the right area would be successful.”

Boucher hoped that from batting perspective things would be much better than what was on display in the first Test.

“We did not utilise advantage of winning the toss in Karachi. There were a couple of run-outs and some bad shots from leading batsmen that let us down. I hope that top batsmen must have realised what had gone wrong there and hopefully, they would not repeat that in the second.”

Though the forecast is for an overcast sky early in the morning, there are hardly any chances of rain for the next few days.

Considering the state of pitch, the team winning the toss would opt to bat first though chances of early help for pace bowlers are always there.

Teams: Pakistan (from): Abid Ali, Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (captain), Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain), Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Nauman Ali, Yasir Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Sajid Khan, and Tabish Khan.

South Africa (from): Quinton de Kock (capt), Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Kagiso Rabada, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Rassie van der Dussen, Anrich Nortje, Wiaan Mulder, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Kyle Verreynne, Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Tabraiz Shamsi, George Linde, Daryn Dupavillon, Ottniel Baartman.

Umpires: Ahsan Raza and Aleem Dar (field); TV Umpire: Asif Yaqoob; Reserve Umpire: Rashid Riaz; Match Referee: Mohammad Javed.