Pakistan will go into the Boxing Day Test against South Africa at Centurion without a specialist spinner, with seam-bowling allrounder Aamer Jamal accompanied by Naseem Shah, Mohammad Abbas and Khurram Shahzad in the bowling attack. Abdullah Shafique, meanwhile, has paid the price for his all-format loss of form that culminated in three successive ducks during the ODI series, with Kamran Ghulam keeping his place. Babar Azam, who was dropped for the last two Tests against England at home, returns to the XI and is slated to bat at No. 3. That pushes captain Shan Masood up the order to open the batting alongside Saim Ayub.
The bowling attack sees the return of Abbas more than three years after he last played a Test match, while Shahzad returns after a recurring rib injury that first ruled him out for several months after the first Test in Perth last December, and then again after the second Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi in…
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