Pakistan looking for a historic white and red-ball series win
After cleaning up the hosts, South Africa, in a 3-0 manner in the ODI series, Pakistan will now look to continue that form and continue their strong away run. The hosts on the other hand have a golden opportunity to all but lock in a World Test Championship (WTC) Final spot should they win the home series against the Asian team.
Ahead of the first Test match between South Africa and Pakistan, here’s our match preview and predictions.
South Africa vs Pakistan 1st Test | Pakistan tour of South Africa 2024/25 | 13:30 IST, December 26-30
Pakistan come into the red ball leg of the tour not only high on confidence after their big ODI series win but with all the pieces slowly falling into place. Their star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan both were back amongst runs and they will also have the young Saim Ayub at the top of the order, who scored a stunning century in the final ODI. With Shan Masood coming back to take the reins, the visitors are in good stead with the bat. The bowling attack though, will see Shaheen Shah Afridi rested as it will be a relatively inexperienced lineup. With no Afridi and Haris Rauf, it will be Naseem Shah, Mohammad Abbas leading the attack while Noman Ali and Aamer Jamal will have to shoulder a lot of responsibilities for the hosts.
The hosts meanwhile will have Temba Bavuma leading them with Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi and Tristan Stubbs as the mainstays in the batting lineup. Ryan Rickelton and David Bedingham will also have all the eyes on them given the hosts have an inexperienced batting unit. The bowling lineup will see Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen take charge with the ball while they have also included the injured Keshav Maharaj and Wiaan Mulder in the squad.
The SuperSport Park at Centurion will provide a lot of assistance for the fast bowlers, who should have a strong match and it will be the visitors starting as the favourites once again and Pakistan’s stronger batting unit should be the one who should come out on top.
Fantasy XI: Mohammad Rizwan, Aiden Markram, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Salman Agha, Kagiso Rabada, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Venue: Centurion
Winners Prediction: Pakistan
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