Following a hugely disappointing performance in Asia Cup 2018, Pakistan equipped with a couple of fresh legs is aiming at to come up hard in the longest format of Cricket in UAE wherein it will begin battling with Australia in the first Test (will be on PTV Sports Live), starting from Sunday (October 7, 2018) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Hopefully, Pakistan will repeat the history in UAE against an inexperienced Australian side as it led by Misbah Ul Haq defeated Aussies in a two-match Test Series at the same venue in October-November 2014.
But one must not forget that in the previous Test series at UAE, apart from Misbah Ul Haq Pakistan had the services of Younis Khan who struck three Centuries including a double Century in his four innings against Australia. Both the veteran batsmen have now retired from International Cricket.
Even Australia will heavily miss Michael Clarke, Steven Smith, and David Warner as the former Australian Captain has also retired while Smith and Warner are facing a one-year suspension over their involvement in ball tampering.
In their absence, three debutants Aaron Finch, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne will receive their Test Caps prior to the beginning of first Test against Pakistan on Sunday.
First Test will be telecast on PTV Sports Live from 11:00 am PST
The Australian Captain Tim Paine has already named the Squad for the first Test, which includes besides himself, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon and Jon Holland.
Pakistan has yet to name its final playing XI from a 18-member Squad, which includes Sarfraz Ahmed (Captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam Ul Haq, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Sohail, Yasir Shah, Shahdab Khan, Usman Salahuddin, Wahab Riaz, Hassan Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Abbas and Mir Hamza.
It is also worth mentioning here that so far, Australia has continued to uphold its dominance over Pakistan in Test matches. From 1956 to 2017, they met 62 times and out of those, Pakistan won only 14 Tests and faced defeats in 31 while 17 Test matches between them ended in draw.
Last time, they played a three-match Test series in Australia in 2016-17, in which the host whitewashed the visitors.
Both the teams will also play a three-match T20I series at Abu Dhabi and Dubai after the conclusion of Test series.
Meanwhile, as per the tradition, all matches of Pakistan-Australia Series 2018 will be on PTV Sports Live.
