Pakistan vs South Africa, 2nd Test: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

Pakistan vs South Africa, 2nd Test: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

Fresh off the back of a huge upset in the first Test in Abu Dhabi when Pakistan won comprehensively by seven wickets, the two teams head to Dubai for the second of this two-match series. Victory for Pakistan would give see South Africa's first series loss away from home since 2006. 

 

What: Pakistan vs. South Africa, second Test

Where: Dubai International Cricket Stadium

When: Wednesday 23rd October to Sunday 27th October, 10:00am (local), 07:00 BST

Live Stream/TV Info:  PTV Sport (stream)

Weather: Accuweather predicts a typical Dubai day; very hot and very sunny with .

 

Overview

The UAE is fast becoming a fortress for Pakistan. Buoyed by their impressive seven-wicket win in the first Test, they will be looking to the experience of Misbah-ul-Haq to provide them with some consistency and the spinning wizardry of  to take them to a historic series win.

South Africa will be without their leading run scorer and most consistent batsman Hashim Amla (waiting for the birth of his child) and may well also be without their No. 1 strike bowler Dale Steyn who will take a late fitness test to see if his hamstring injury has recovered sufficiently for him to be able to get through a whole Test match.

Although still favourites with the bookies, South Africa struggled with the ball in the first Test; their seam bowlers failed to get any sort of reverse swing and spin bowler Robin Petersen cannot match the Pakistani spinners for revolutions and turn. They may look to bring in Imran Tahir as another spin option that captain smith can turn to. 

If Steyn is unable to play, South Africa may bring in reserve seamer , who has previously come into the side when Vernon Philander was injured. Steyn would be a big loss although his four wickets in the first Test came at an expensive economy rate. Morne Morkel was the most efficient of the South African seamers, bowling 23 overs in the first innings for just 35 runs.

The pitch in Dubai will be pretty similar to the one in Abu Dhabi: a fairly low, slow turner. They are conditions that undeniably favour Pakistan's bowlers. Saeed Ajmal was the leading wicket-taker in the first Test, taking six for 133, but Mohammed Irfan was also very effective finding the right lengths to get late movement.

It was that movement that got the wickets of Smith and Amla in the first innings. Irfan's height is also a great advantage when trying to bowl short balls and get bounce on pitches that don't offer much.

Pakistan are known for their inconsistency, particularly with the bat, and will be looking for big runs again from  and  at the top of the order. However, as we saw in their small second-innings run chase, a Pakistani batting collapse is never too far away.

 

Key Men

Pakistan

It will be the skillful spin bowling of Saeed Ajmal that is likely to be the key difference between the two sides but they will also inevitably be reliant at some point in the Test on the experience and patience of captain Misbah-ul-Haq batting at No. 5 to steady the ship.

 

South Africa

In the absence of Hashim Amla, South Africa will be looking to Alviro Petersen and Graeme Smith as openers to give them a much better start to their innings than they did in the first Test when they were 19-2 and 57-2.

 

Squads

Pakistan 

Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Adnan Akmal (wk), Abdur Rehman, Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Junaid Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammed Irfan, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Shan Masood, Umar Amin, Younis Khan, Zulfiqar Babar.

 

South Africa

Graeme Smith (c), AB de Villiers (WK), Hashim Amla (unavailable), Jean-Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, Rory Kleinveldt, Morne Morkel, Alviro Petersen, Robin Petersen, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn (injury doubt)