Star opener Saeed Anwar has been retained as captain, wicketkeeper/batsman Moin Khan as his deputy and former Test batsman Haroon Rashid as coach of the team. The final eleven will be picked on the morning of the match.
Also dropped from the team, which convincingly won the last of the three-game one-day international series against India, is the Test left-arm spinner Muhammad Hussain, who held two spectacular catches. Interestingly, openers Ali Naqvi (who batted well in both innings of the Combined XI) and Muhammad Ramazan have been included in the national side for the first time. Saleem, youngest of the famous Elahi brothers, Manzoor and Zahoor, has also been included and so have been young paceman Shahid Nazir, Muhammad Akram and middle-order batsman Muhammad Wasim. All these selections hint at selectors' efforts to 'search' reliable batsmen because the team has been failing time and again in this department.
The national selection committee, which held deliberations whole day on Thursday and met on Friday at the Qadhafi Stadium, with former Test paceman Salim Altaf in chair, delayed the announcement of names of the players till mid-day to get information about the three-day Combined XI vs South Africa match.
The endorsement of members of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Council was also sought before handing over the names of the players to mediamen. The coach Haroon Rashid and the captain Saeed Anwar also gave their views during the meeting.
A welcome development is re-induction of guileful right-arm leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmad, who along with the off-break bowler Saqlain Mushtaq will make the spin-department better than the visiting South African side, who has to rely on Paul Adams and Pat Symcox. The Rawalpindi pitch, traditionally, has been taking spin. Mushtaq Ahmad seems to have recovered from his knee-trouble and has informed about his availability to the PCB.
The bowling department has also been strengthened by return of world- class paceman Waqar Younis and inclusion of youngsters Muhammad Akram, Azhar Mahmood and Shahid Nazir. The opposing team is also formidable in this department as it has more experienced pacemen, the great Alan Donald and Brian McMillan and a few highly-talented youngsters. The Pakistani batting will revolve around Saeed Anwar, men in great form Ejaz Ahmad Senior and Inzamam-ul-Haq, wicketkeeper Moin Khan and youngsters Muhammad Wasim, Salim Elahi, Ali Naqvi and Muhammad Ramazan who have been doing well during domestic cricket for some years. The South African side is equally strong in batting as it has the reliable Daryll Cullinan, Gary Kirsten, Captain Hansie Cronje, Jonty Rhodes, Andrew Hudson and a few good all-rounders.
However, fielding tilts the scales in favour of the visiting South African side. Perhaps no other team can match the South African side in this particular department.
The Pakistan team will have to play to its full potential and produce an all-round performance like the one put in during the last one-day international against the Indian side on Thursday at the Qadhafi Stadium if its is to outwit the South African side. A very keen tussle can be witnessed during the five-day first cricket Test at Rawalpindi between two evenly-balanced sides because that sort of game is quite different from the limited-over matches.
The Pakistan team is:
Saeed Anwar (captain), Moin Khan (vice-captain), Ejaz Ahmad Senior, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Wasim, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis, Mushtaq Ahmad, Shahid Nazir, Azhar Mahmood, Muhammad Akram, Saleem Elahi, Ali Naqvi, Muhammad Ramazan. Coach: Haroon Rashid.
Physiotherapist: Dr Dan Kiesel.