SYDNEY: Pakistan have almost given up plans to field two spinner in their second Test against Australia and will stick with three pacers for the match getting underway here at the Sydney Cricket Ground from Sunday.
Arab News learnt here through reliable sources on Friday that the tourists will make two changes to the line-up that fell to a 170-run defeat in the first Test in Melbourne earlier this week.
Leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is set to return to the playing XI in place of off-spinner Saeed Ajmal while pacer Umar Gul is likely to come in for Abdur Rauf. Gul was overlooked for the first Test because of an indifferent form and minor fitness problems as the team management opted for the inexperienced Rauf for the Boxing Day Test.
Rauf had bowled exceptionally well in the nets and according to team officials was impressive during a three-day practice match in Hobart that preceded the first Test in Melbourne. The tall pacer flopped at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and is now set to catch a flight back home after being recalled by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) along with left-handed middle-order batsman Fawad Alam.
Team officials told Arab News that the final XI would only be decided just before the match, after taking a look at the SCG wicket. On Friday, it was a green top but Pakistan is expecting that most of it would be shaved ahead of the second Test.
Traditionally, SCG is supposed to be a good wicket that would help spin, but results in recent Tests suggest that it is the fast bowlers who take more wickets.
Pakistan has been considering the idea of playing both Kaneria and Ajmal in Sydney in a bid to level the series 1-1. But playing conditions in Sydney have forced them to change their mind. The pitch is unlikely to offer too much turn while the fact that it is expected to be mostly cloudy with a few showers during the course of the Test has made the team management to almost decide keeping three pacers and a spinner in the line-up.
Some critics have been advocating the idea of playing five specialist bowlers but coach Intikhab Alam told this correspondent that it was quite unlikely. “We will most probably be playing four bowlers and I think three of them will be pacers. But the final line-up will only be decided tomorrow after a detailed discussion.”
While the team management is convinced that Kaneria will play in Sydney, they are still undecided whether Gul or Mohammad Sami should replace Rauf.
Sami, who was sent to Australia as reinforcement, could have played in Melbourne but had to eventually sit out after landing in Australia just a day before the start of the first Test.
On the morning of the day he left for Melbourne, Sami ripped through the Habib Bank (HBL) batting line that included former Pakistan captain Younis Khan, picking up six wickets to help win the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final for his side — the Karachi Blues.
On Friday, Sami — who is regarded among Pakistan’s fastest bowlers — once again bowled with a lot of pace at the nets and was keenly watched by both Intikhab and Waqar Younis, the bowling coach.
However, in spite of his speed, Sami could be ignored again for the Sydney Test, as it seems that the team management is more interested in recalling Gul.
There have been reports that Gul is suffering from serious fitness problems but the lanky pacer showed little or no such signs as he bowled a few spells during Friday’s nets at the SCG.
“Gul was never injured,” said Intikhab. “We only picked Rauf instead of him because we thought he (Rauf) was in better form,” said the coach.
“For the next Test, both Gul and Sami are in contention,” he added.
Pakistan are unlikely to make any changes to the batting line even though it failed to get big scores in either innings in Melbourne. Shoaib Malik, an experienced middle-order batsman, had a lengthy stay at the crease during the nets making one journalists wonder whether he is in line to make a return after being dropped because of an indifferent form. But the team management is hoping that batsmen Faisal Iqbal and Misbah-ul-Haq should do better in Sydney after getting a few runs in Melbourne. Openers Imran Farhat and Salman Butt failed to make any worthwhile contributions at the MCG but the duo is set to get another chance.
