Babar hints at changes ahead of second Australia Test

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has confirmed that the Men in Green will be making changes in their playing XI for the second Test against Australia, which commences at Karachi’s National Stadium from Saturday.

While speaking to reporters in a virtual presser, the 27-year-old is looking forward to continuing the momentum of the Rawalpindi Test and go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

The hosts were without Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Haris Rauf for the first Test and it is highly likely Hasan and Faheem will play the second Test in place of Naseem Shah and Iftikhar Ahmed.

“We will finalise our final XI today. Our two main players are back and we will surely consider them,” Babar said.

“The weather is hot and conditions [in Karachi] are different from Rawalpindi. The momentum is with us and we dominated in the last test. We saw some brilliant individual performances and everyone stepped in. We will look to win the Test in Karachi and go 1-0 in the series.

Meanwhile, Babar downplayed that they played slow in the first Test and urged critics to appreciate performances rather than finding loopholes.

He also emphasized every venue offers different challenges and the pitch was the same for both teams. He also doesn’t believe there was any fear of Australia.

“Abdullah Shafique is about to play just his fourth Test while Imam-ul-Haq made his comeback. The way they played against Australia’s attack is commendable. We can’t dominate in every session in Test cricket and we have to stay focused by not giving away wickets as we can’t go at four runs per over. We have to respect opponents and play according to the situation.”

“The conditions are equal for everyone. The Test championship points are crucial. We dominated the majority of the Test but the result didn’t come in our favour. I don’t think that we are afraid of Australia. The critics must take both opponents similarly, saying that only they can dominate is not ideal, I have full belief that we can dominate in Karachi as we have the best bowlers and batters,” Babar added.

It must be noted that the first Test ended in a draw at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. Over 1100 runs were scored and only 14 wickets fell across five days.

Imam scored centuries (157 and 111*) in both innings while veteran Azhar Ali scored a mammoth 185. The 22-year-old Abdullah Shafique scored 136* in the second innings.

On the other hand, spinner Nauman Ali bagged 6/107, the only notable performance among bowlers.