Abrar Ahmed or uncapped Asif Afridi could be called up for second and final Test against South Africa, says Azhar Mahmood
\nRawalpindi
\nPakistan could include a third spinner against South Africa as the hosts try to sweep the series 2-0 in the second Test in Rawalpindi, head coach Azhar Mahmood said Sunday.
\nPakistan beat World Test champions South Africa by 93 runs inside four days last week with spinners taking 34 of the 40 wickets on a turning Gaddafi Stadium pitch.
\nMahmood said either leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed or uncapped 38-year-old left-armer Asif Afridi could be called up for the second and final Test beginning on Monday on a dry Rawalpindi pitch.
\nLeft-armer Noman Ali took 10 wickets in the first Test while his spin partner Sajid Khan finished with six.
\nWith the pitch in Rawalpindi likely to turn more as the match goes on, Mahmood stressed that first innings runs will be crucial, whether batting first or second.
\n\u201cThe pitch looks dry \u2026 so you need to score big and not depend on the toss for a favourable result,\u201d said Mahmood.
\nSouth Africa will be bolstered by the return of experienced left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who missed the first Test with a groin strain.
\n\u201cKeshav is fit and obviously it is great to have him back,\u201d said South Africa stand-in captain Aiden Markram.
\n\u201cHe brings in great experience and a really good skill set.\u201d
\nMaharaj is likely to partner Senuran Muthusamy, who excelled with 11 wickets in the first Test.
\n\u201cIt is really important for us to try to level the series,\u201d said Markram, who is captain because Temba Bavuma is injured.
\n\u201cWe are expecting more spin in this Test but it is an opportunity for us.\u201d
\nTony de Zorzi made a century in the first Test and Markram said the South Africans had \u201ctapped into him\u201d to understand \u201cwhat worked against the Pakistan spinners.\u201d
\n\u201cIt is good to have someone with that confidence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Abrar Ahmed or uncapped Asif Afridi could be called up for second and final Test against South Africa, says Azhar Mahmood Rawalpindi Pakistan could include a third spinner against South Africa as the hosts try to sweep the series 2-0 in the second Test in Rawalpindi, head coach Azhar Mahmood said Sunday. Pakistan beat World …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":88376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88380,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88370\/revisions\/88380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}