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Pakistan have announced their playing XI for the third and final Test of the series against Australia, resting the experienced duo of Shaheen Afridi and Imam-ul-Haq. After losing the first two Test matches, the Pakistan team management have decided to bring in Saim Ayub on debut and Sajid Khan in their playing XI at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
On Wednesday, January 3, the 21-year-old Saim Ayub is going to play the first Test match in his career, replacing Imam-ul-Haq at the top of the order. Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Sajid Khan, who has picked up 22 wickets in seven Test matches, is going to play the key role of holding up an end for Pakistan with his off-spin, while looking to pick up important wickets at various stages of the Test against Australia.
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Notably, Pakistan lost the first Test of the series by a big margin of 360 runs at the Optus Stadium in Perth before running Australia close in the second match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), losing by 79 runs at the end. With the New Year’s Test match not changing the fate of the series any further, Pakistan decided to make a couple of significant alterations in their playing XI.
Pat Cummins, the Australian captain, who played a crucial role in securing the Test win from a tough situation at the MCG, announced that there won’t be any changes in their playing XI for the SCG match. David Warner is set to retire from the longest format of the game in front of his family and friends at his home ground.
Here are the playing XIs of Australia and Pakistan for the SCG Test:
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Sajid Khan, Hasan Ali, Mir Hamza, Aamer Jamal
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood