Young Pakistan brace for stern Brisbane Test
Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq gives batting tips to Iftikhar Ahmed during a training session.
Pakistan are likely to give debut to teenage pace sensation Naseem Shah, still reeling from his mother’s death last week but the tourists believe he can be a match-winner in the opening Test against Australia.
Pakistan have a poor record in Australia, as they have never won a Test series in the country, only have drawn once. Their last success in a Test match on Australian came in 1995 in Sydney.
Only a handful of the players including new skipper Azhar Ali, Babar Azam and the in-form Asad Shafiq, were a part of the touring squad in their last series in Australia in 2016/17. Pakistan were defeated 3-0 in that series.
However, the then captain and now head coach
Misbah-ul-Haq ruled out that the past results will have any bearing on the current series.
“Our previous record in Australia won’t put us under pressure,” he said.
“If anything, it’ll be an opportunity and motivation to win because whatever we couldn’t achieve in the past, we can do now. It’s a young and hungry team and it means business,” he added.
They will be relying heavily on Azam and Shafiq, who scored a century in Brisbane three years ago and has had a perfect lead-up this time, hitting an unbeaten 119 against Australia A then 101 not out against a cricket Australia XI.
Australia, though, are on a roll. They retained the Ashes with a 2-2 draw in England in September and beat Pakistan 2-0 in their recent Twenty20 series.
How the bowlers fare will be key on a Gabba wicket traditionally seen as a paceman’s paradise.
Australia boast the experienced Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood, however James Pattinson will be missing after being suspended this week for player abuse. Pakistan may unveil teenage quick Naseem Shah, 16, for his debut as part of a young attack boasting 19-year-olds Shaheen Afridi and Musa Khan, alongside the impressive Muhammad Abbas and veteran Imran Khan senior.
Their credentials were on show in the build-up against an Australian A team in Perth featuring Test players Joe Burns, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft, dismissing them for 122. But removing Smith and Warner — in their first home Test since their ball-tampering bans — will likely be a different proposition. Skipper Tim Paine said the Australia A game was irrelevant.
“I saw that Pakistan are smelling blood in the water or whatever they said,” he told reporters.
“What happened in Perth has got nothing to do with what is going to happen at the Gabba.”
While Warner had a miserable Ashes, scoring just 95 runs at an average of 9.5, he has since bounced back into form. Smith, meanwhile, is still revelling in his remarkable series in England, where he scored 774 runs in just seven innings.
Despite his poor Ashes run, Warner’s spot at the top of the order was never in doubt, but Australia have struggled to find a suitable partner.
Burns is set to assume the job in Brisbane ahead of Bancroft.
Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Matthew Wade round out the middle order.
The second and final Test, a day-night affair, is in Adelaide later this month.
Agencies
Australia squad: Tim Paine (capt), Cameron Bancroft, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner
Pakistan squad: Azhar Ali (capt), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan senior, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashid Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan, Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah
