Pakistan wins the toss and elected to bat first

Pakistan Captain Babar Azam has won the toss and elected to bat first in the second test match against South Africa at the Rawalpindi cricket stadium.

South Africa lost the first test, they are hurt and their streak of winless games has extended to 13 that includes losses in their last eight tests, and to add more pain; Australia also refused recently to travel South Africa. Leaving all this behind, they need to come up with a powerful display of game to challenge Pakistan.

Pakistan meanwhile, have star Batsman Fawad Alam and furious spinners to give a tough time to the visitors. Retaining the same squad, Pakistan are hoping for a spectacular performance from their top order and score hefty runs on board.

The 34-year-old left-arm spinner Nauman Ali made his impressive Test debut in the first match and much is expected from him in the second match.

Nauman claimed five-wickets in the second South African innings whereas batsman Fawad Alam scored a 109 in Pakistan’s first innings.

Addressing a virtual press conference, Babar Azam on Wednesday said that the Pakistan team prepared very well during the practice sessions and the players were high in morale after winning the first Test against South Africa.

He said that the way the team played in the first match,  we will try to perform the same in the second. We will not take South African team easy as we know they can bounce back.

Babar Azam said he was enjoying the Test captaincy saying the players and team were supporting him. “The captaincy becomes easy when the players and team supports you. We will stick to the same plan and focus and hopefully will win the second test.

Pitch and weather: Although mostly sunny all five days, there are some patches of cloudy/overcast conditions expected everyday. Chance of rain zero on days 2, 3 and 4, but there’s a less than 5% chance that it may drizzle a bit on day 1 and 5. As for the pitch, Wasim Akram says that there’s moisture in the pitch and there will be a bit of carry and bounce.

Squads

Pakistan Test squad:

Babar Azam (C), Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Kamran Ghulam, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Sajid Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Nauman Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Tabish Khan.

South Africa squad:

Quinton de Kock (C), 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, Marco Jansen.