Mishaal Arshad C.M.Underground News.
HARARE: Pakistan on Friday won the toss and elected to bat first in the second Test against Zimbabwe played at Harare Sports Club.
Tabish khan has been given the debut by the team management in place of Faheem Ashraf.
The green shirts will be looking to end their African tour on a high note against Zimbabwe.
Pakistan dominated the first Test on a slow Harare pitch, with Hasan Ali mainly responsible for bowling out the home side for under 200 in both innings.
Hasan had match figures of nine for 89.
Fawad Alam hit a century for Pakistan in a solid batting performance in which the only top-order batsman to fail was skipper Babar Azam, who was out first ball to Donald Tiripano.
But if it was a rare batting failure for Pakistan’s star, Babar had the satisfaction of becoming the first Pakistan captain to win his first three Tests in charge – a record which he will be expected to improve upon in the coming days.
“We won the first Test with great confidence and will take that momentum into the second Test,” Babar said Thursday.
“We need to play like that as we want to end the Africa tour on a high.
“Our next series is in the West Indies which will be totally different so we want to have a settled Test squad.”
Zimbabwe’s slim prospects of levelling the series suffered a further blow on Thursday when three leading batsmen were ruled out of the Test.
Opening batsman Prince Masvaure will be missing after suffering a fractured left thumb while fielding in the first Test.
The experienced duo of Sean Williams and Craig Ervine will again be absent, having failed to recover fully from injuries which kept them out of the opener.
Brendan Taylor will again stand in as captain in place of Williams.
Zimbabwe Cricket announced in a statement that Wesley Madhevere had been added to the squad, while the uncapped Takudzwanashe Kaitano, who was added as cover for the first Test, had been retained.
Madhevere, 20, has shown promise in white-ball internationals but failed to score in all three innings in his debut Test series against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi in March.
