Under-pressure Pakistan will be facing high-on-confidence Australia in the second Test in the two-match series starting in Abu Dhabi from Tuesday.
The Men in Green will be desperate to turn things around after a demoralizing draw in the first Test, where the home side dominated first four day of the match but could not cross the final hurdle.
The Green Caps are expected to make at least one change as opener: Imam Ul Haq has been ruled out of the series after suffering a hand injury.
On the other hand, Kangaroos will be flying high after registering an impressive draw in the series opener, courtesy Usman Khawaja and Tim Paine's resilience on the final day of the match.
Key Players
Mohammad Hafeez – 9 Cr
First in the list of key players features Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who made a great comeback in the national team in the five-day format after a gap of two years. The veteran all-rounder looked in sublime form with the bat for the home side and also claimed a wicket in the second innings of the Dubai Test. Valued at 9 Cr, Hafeez accumulated 94 points in the last game and might prove to be an excellent purchase considering the fact that he averages 58.54 while playing at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, which is 19 runs more than his career average and also has 11 wickets to his name.
Yasir Shah – 9.5 Cr
Next in the list features Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who had a
Under-pressure Pakistan will be facing high-on-confidence Australia in the second Test in the two-match series starting in Abu Dhabi from Tuesday.
The Men in Green will be desperate to turn things around after a demoralizing draw in the first Test, where the home side dominated first four day of the match but could not cross the final hurdle.
The Green Caps are expected to make at least one change as opener: Imam Ul Haq has been ruled out of the series after suffering a hand injury.
On the other hand, Kangaroos will be flying high after registering an impressive draw in the series opener, courtesy Usman Khawaja and Tim Paine's resilience on the final day of the match.
Key Players
Mohammad Hafeez – 9 Cr
First in the list of key players features Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who made a great comeback in the national team in the five-day format after a gap of two years. The veteran all-rounder looked in sublime form with the bat for the home side and also claimed a wicket in the second innings of the Dubai Test. Valued at 9 Cr, Hafeez accumulated 94 points in the last game and might prove to be an excellent purchase considering the fact that he averages 58.54 while playing at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, which is 19 runs more than his career average and also has 11 wickets to his name.
Yasir Shah – 9.5 Cr
Next in the list features Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who had a tough outing in the first match of the series where he just managed to claim four wickets for the team and accumulated just 37.5 points. Valued at 9.5 Cr, Shah might look like an expensive acquisition, but keeping his brilliant record at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in mind, where he claimed 27 wickets in just four matches at an average of 22.62, it might just not be a bad deal after all. In the previous outing against Australia at the venue, Shah claimed five wickets.
Usman Khawaja – 8.5 Cr
Last in the list features left-handed batsman Usman Khawaja, who earned the player of the match award after scoring match-saving century and helped Kangaroos in registering an impressive result in tough circumstances. The 31-year-old is the player with most Test matches under his belt in the current Australia squad and he showed his class by playing two brilliant knocks for the team in Dubai. Valued at 9.5 Cr, Khawaja, who accumulated the highest number of points in the previous match by any player (130.5), can prove to be an excellent purchase as he looked completely at ease while playing against Pakistan spin duo.
Key facts about the ground
Sheikh Zayed Stadium is located in Abu Dhabi, UAE and has so far hosted 10 Test matches, the last of which was played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka where the Islanders registered a nail-biting 21-run win. Highest partnership for any wicket on the ground in Tests was between Shoaib Malik and Asad Shafiq, when they put 248 runs for the fifth-wicket against England in 2015-16 season, whereas the highest individual score of 278 not out on the ground in five-day format was scored by South Africa's AB de Villiers. Highest team total on the ground of 598-9 (dec) was scored by England, whereas best bowling figures in an innings was registered by Pakistan left-arm spinner Abdur Rahman, when he claimed 6-25 in a famous 72-run win against England in January 2012.
