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- A spin-heavy Pakistan playing XI includes debutant Mohammad Hurraira, who scored half centuries in both innings of a three-day warm-up game against West Indies
- The tourists awarded Test debut to 28-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Tevin Imlach, who has scored 1097 runs in 22 games since making his first-class debut in Dec. 2018
MULTAN: Spin-heavy Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against the West Indies on Friday.
Heavy fog delayed the start of the Test match between the two bottom-placed teams of the World Test Championship before Pakistan captain Shan Masood won the coin toss after lunch and opted to bat on a dry wicket tailor-made for spinners.
Pakistan is at No. 8 and West Indies is at No. 9 on the WTC points table after performing under-par over the last one year in red-ball cricket. Australia and South Africa have already qualified for June 11-15 WTC final at Lord’s.
Pakistan has lost eight of its last 10 Test matches while West Indies has yet to win a Test series in this WTC cycle, losing to India, England and South Africa while drawing against Australia and Bangladesh.
One of the two Pakistan wins came at the Multan Cricket Stadium and on the same pitch when it beat England on an engineered dry wicket to favor the spin duo of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali.
Khan and Ali grabbed all 20 England wickets and will team up with recalled leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed to challenge the West Indies on another tailor-made spin wicket.
A spin-heavy Pakistan playing XI includes debutant Mohammad Hurraira, who scored half centuries in both innings of a three-day warm-up game against West Indies in Islamabad.
The 22-year-old Hurraira came in place of Saim Ayub, who has been ruled out of competitive cricket for at least six weeks after fracturing his right ankle during a Test match against South Africa at Cape Town earlier this month.
West Indies has dropped vice-captain Joshua Da Silva and will also be without ill fast bowler Kemar Roach.
The tourists awarded Test debut to 28-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Tevin Imlach, who has scored 1097 runs in 22 games since making his first class debut in Dec. 2018.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite said he would have liked to bat too on a dry pitch, but expected his bowlers to build dot-ball pressure with their disciplined line and lengths.
LINEUPS
Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Mohammad Hurraira, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Khurram Shahzad.
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Mikyle Louis, Keacy Carty, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Kevin Sinclair, Justin Greaves, Tevin Imlach, Gudakesh Motie, Jomel Warrican, Jayden Seales.