Proteas suffer Tabraiz Shamsi setback, bat in first Test in Karachi

South Africa's captain and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, left, plays his 50th Test for the Proteas against Pakistan. Picture: Picture: Phill Magakoe/AFP

South Africa's captain and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, left, plays his 50th Test for the Proteas against Pakistan. Picture: Picture: Phill Magakoe/AFP

Published Jan 26, 2021

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JOHANNESBURG - Quinton de Kock, playing his 50th Test, won the toss and unsurprisingly chose to bat in the first Test between Pakistan and South Africa at the National Stadium in Karachi on Tuesday.

It is South Africa’s first match in Pakistan in over 13 years.

The Proteas made two changes from the team that won the series against Sri Lanka three weeks, with George Linde coming in for Wiaan Mulder, while Kagiso Rabada returned to the starting line-up in place of Lutho Sipamla.

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De Kock confirmed at the toss that South Africa were going to play three spinners, but that Tabraiz Shamsi suffered a back spasm in the warm-ups before play. The left arm wrist spinner’s name was on the team sheet, but scratched out and replaced by Lungi Ngidi.

Pakistan meanwhile handed debuts to opener Imran Butt and left arm spinner Nauman Ali. The latter is 34 years old and has taken 289 wickets in 128 first class matches. Butt, 25, has played 72 first class games, in which he’s scored 4478 runs at an average of 36.11, with a highest score of 214.

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It is the first time Babar Azam has captained Pakistan in a Test match.

TEAMS FOR THE FIRST TEST

Proteas: Aiden Markam, Dean Elgar, Rassie vd Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock (capt), Temba Bavuma, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi.

Pakistan: Abid Ali, Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (capt), Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan, Faheem Ashraf, Hassan Ali, Nauman Ali, Yasir Shah, Shaheen Afridi.

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