However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to maintain its confidence in Saeed Anwar, who has been retained as skipper of the Pakistan team despite inclusion of world-class all-rounder Wasim Akram among the chosen 13.
Another significant inclusion in the Pakistan team is that of the right-arm leg-spinner Ali Husain Rizvi, who had taken eleven South African wickets in their opening match of the tour at Karachi while representing the Combined XI. Dropped from the 14 players of the rawalpindi Test are Test pacemen Muhammad Akram and Shahid Nazir. The first Test between the Pakistan and South Africa teams had ended in a draw at Rawalpindi cricket ground because a ``dead pitch'' had been prepared. Only two-and-a-half innings were completed during the five-day match and some batsmen of both the sides plundered runs.
The pitch at the Municipal Stadium, Sheikhupura is traditionally slow but helps good spinners in later part of the game. The grass ha;s been moved. Batsmen who apply themselves, will relish to play on that wicket. However, pacemen like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Allan Donald can benefit from moisture in the pitch which seeps through the covers due to early morning dew.
Elevens of both Pakistan and South Africa will be named on Friday morning after the two captains have a final look at the pitch. The second Test will begin at 10 am. In all, 90 overs will be bowled in each day's play.
The Pakistan team has been strengthened in bowling by including three seamers and three spinners. While the fiery Test bowler Waqar Younis and young seamer Azhar Mahmood, who made a successful Test debut at Rawalpindi have been retained, the experienced world-class paceman Wasim Akram has been recalled.
He makes a comeback into the team after a long lay-off of six months during which he could not play cricket and had his functional shoulder operated upon twice in England.
He has recovered fully from the injury. Although Wasim Akram tested his left shoulder by sending down 16 overs in which he took three wickets for the Lahore City Cricket Association team against Karachi City Cricket Association Whites side, yet he could not fully benefit from the rain-ruined Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade I match at the LCCA ground. Wasim Akram has been bowling flat out during net-practice in the camp and should be Pakistan's ``trump card'' in the second Test. With his variety and speed in bowling he can shatter the best batting lines of the world on any pitch if he finds his rhythm. The Pakistan team will love to benefit from his scintillating batting. Wasim Akram relishes the Sheikhupura pitch where he scored his only Test double-century against Zimbabwe.
The Pakistani spin-attack has also been made more guileful with the inclusion of young Ali Husain Rizvi. Although he is also a right-arm leg-spinner, yet he can play an effective role in limiting strong South African batting line-up to a low score as he has brilliant colleagues like off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and the diminutive right-arm leg-spinner of his type, Mushtaq Ahmad.
The Pakistan team is pretty strong in batting. The opener Ali Naqvi shot to fame by scoring a century on his Test debut at Rawalpindi. So did Azhar Mahmood batting at Number eight. Captain and opener Saeed Anwar, Ejaz Ahmad Senior, Inzimam-ul-Haq, Moin Khan and Muhammad Wasim are good batsmen to fail time and again. All of them have Test centuries to their credit. The batting will be bolstered by the comeback of Wasim Akram. The Pakistan team's fielding cannot be compared with the South African side because the visitors are in a class of their own. Those who will watch the game are expected to have the incomparable Jonty Rhodes' acrobatic performance etched in their memories for many years. However, the Pakistan team will have to rise to the occasion if it is to do well in the match.
The South African side looks weaker in spin-department. It will have to depend on off-spinner Pat Symcox and the unorthodox left-arm spinner Paul Adams. However, the visiting team has a great fast bowler like Allan Donald, who will have the support of Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Brian Macmillan and Kluesener.
The visitors' batting is not weak either. It has a reliable middle-order batsman like Darryll Cullanin, who came out of a bad-patch with a good knock at Peshawar. Kallis hit a century there to send an early warning to the Pakistan team. Gary Kirsten and young Adam Bacher are reliable openers, Jonty Rhodes has improved his batting a lot and Captain Hansie Cronje also invariably makes useful contributes.
A tough contest is expected between the two balanced sides. However, the Pakistan team enjoys edge both in batting and bowling. It should also benefit from home ground and backing of home crowd.
The 13 announced for the Pakistan team are: Captain Saeed Anwar, Syed Ali Urooj Naqvi, Muhammad Ramazan, Ejaz Ahmad Senior, Inzimam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Wasim, Moin Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Azhar Mahmood, Mushtaq Ahmad, Saqlain Mushtaq, Syed Ali Husain Rizvi.