Pakistan getting ready as The Proteas are knocking at their door

In international cricket, The South African cricket team is now touring Pakistan for Test and T20 bilateral series. The Proteas men’s cricket team last went to Pakistan in October 2007 to play a series. This is their first visit to Pakistan in almost 13 years.

This historic tour is set to begin with the first Test match on January 26 at the National Stadium (Karachi). The series consists of 2 Test matches and 3 T20 matches, of which the 2nd Test match will be played on February 4 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium (Rawalpindi). After the second Test, The Proteas test squad will return to their country and a different squad will play the 3-match T20 series against the hosts. The T20 series will be held from 11 to 14 February 2021.

Since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket bus in March 2009, Pakistan has hosted only three Tests, two Tests against Sri Lanka in December 2019, and one Test against Bangladesh in February 2020. However, the Test series against the Proteas is the first Test since October 2007 where the Pakistan cricket team will play a series on home soil with a non-Asian cricket team. Incidentally, South Africa was the last non-Asian team to play a Test series in Pakistan (October 2007, in Lahore).

The Proteas departed for Pakistan on January 16 and before leaving the country, all the players of The Proteas squad were tested negative for the Covid-19 test. After reaching Pakistan, they were in quarantine for 7 days. However, Ottniel Baartman was ruled out due to a physical illness and has been replaced by Marco Jansen. If everything goes well, he may make his Test debut in this series.

Since 1995, South Africa and Pakistan have met in a total of 26 Test matches, with South Africa winning 15 matches and Pakistan winning 4 matches and drawing 7 matches. However, in the three-match Test series held in South Africa in 2018/19, the host South Africa whitewashed Pakistan, and again on the last tour of New Zealand, Pakistan was whitewashed by the hosts in the Test series.

The Pakistan team hasn’t been able to play as well as they expected in recent two years outside of Asia. But this time playing on their home soil, they will try their best to make the series memorable. South Africa, on the other hand, beat Sri Lanka (2-0) in their last two-Test series to win the series. So this series is very important for the Proteas as well, to build a strong position in the points table of ICC World Test Championship. South Africa is ranked 5th and Pakistan is ranked 7th in the ICC Test rankings. The Test series between Pakistan and the Proteas will be part of the 2019-21 ICC World Test Championship & they are going to face off for the first time in the prestigious tournament.

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

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

Test match schedule for South Africa and Pakistan:
First Test – 26th -30th January, National Stadium Karachi, 11:00 (GMT+6)
Second Test – 4th – 6th February, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, 11:00 (GMT+6)

Some ideas and stats about the upcoming South Africa vs Pakistan series is reflected in this article. So, it’s an easy go for you now to play on Baji!