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Just hours ahead of the three-match Test series against Australia, Pakistan Cricket Board on Thursday, 14 December named Shaheen Shah Afridi as Shan Masood’s deputy for the Australia tour. The development came early on Thursday ahead of the opening Test against Pat Cummins’ Australia in Perth.
It is to be noted that Afridi was earlier named the T20I skipper of the side after Babar Azam stepped down from captaincy, following their dismal performance at the ODI World Cup 2023 in India, earlier last month. Along with him taking over the T20I captaincy reins, Shan Masood was handed the Test captaincy role.
Shaheen Afridi has so far featured in 27 Tests, picking 105 wickets for the Men in Green. However, he has appeared in 53 ODIs and 52 T20Is for the side, scalping 104 and 64 wickets respectively.
With an eye on the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2023-25, Pakistan will aim to clinch the series against six-time World Champions Australia following their win over Sri Lanka in July this year. They currently sit at the top of the WTC points table with 24 points, followed by India, who sit at second place with 66.67 percent and 16 points, following a drawn series.
Pakistan’s Playing XI against Australia in first Test:
Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood (C), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Agha Salman, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi (vc), Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shahzad