Despite the fact that Pakistan team has been struggling to produce a memorable win in the ongoing Asia Cup, Australia, who will play them next in a bilateral Test series in the UAE are not leaving any stone unturned during their preparations. Tim Paine and his men have called on two domestic spinners from India – Pardeep Sahu and K Jiyas, for practice ahead of the first Test starting October 7 and it also aims to neutralize leg-spinner Yasir Shah in the series to increase their winning chances.
Yasir along with slow left-arm orthodox bowler Zulfiqar Babar dismantled Australia the last time they toured the UAE to play Pakistan in a Test series. In that series that Pakistan won 2-0, as many as 26 wickets were taken by Yasir-Babar duo.
Australian recalled their veteran pacer Peter Siddle for the upcoming Test series and talking about the series, as quoted in Cricbuzz, Siddle said, “He’s (Yasir) going to play a big part. Spin bowling in this series is going to play a massive part. I think it’s going to be a tough contest. He bowled well against us the last series over here. He took a lot of wickets, so I think it’s going to be the number one plan to keep him out.”
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What is even more concerning for Australia is that they will be missing the services of their two frontline batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner in their ranks this time. Warner was their highest scorer in that Test series with 239 runs. Pakistan will be missing Babar this time around but he could be replaced by 19-year-old Shadab Khan to pair up with Yasir. The latter has 165 wickets in 28 Test matches so far at an average of 29.44. He picked up 12 scalps in the 2014-15 series at an average of 17.25.
The touring side has called on two domestic spinners from India to ensure that the Australian batsmen get adequate practice ahead of the Test series. Some of their players also featured in an A series in India recently and Siddle believes these give them an ideal preparation for the Pakistan series.
Talking about the same, “So we’ve got a contest against those two guys, and having good discussions about different deliveries, what to watch, I think it’s been good for us tailenders as well to hear from different batters, the way they go about it, the way they watch the ball,” he said.
Australia will also play three T20Is against Pakistan after the Test series gets over.
