After the humiliating loss in the ODI series, South Africa will be desperate to bounce back when they take on Pakistan in the first Test of the two-match series this week. The first South Africa vs Pakistan Test will be played from Thursday (December 26) at the SuperSport Park, Centurion.
A lot will be at stake in the upcoming Test series. Both the teams especially South Africa are in contention to make it to the World Test Championship final. Even though Pakistan’s chances are slim, they are still in the race for a spot in the final.
So, both teams will be giving their best in the Test series. South Africa will be desperate to bounce back after the humiliating loss in the ODI series. After winning the T20I series, the Proteas were whitewashed 3-0 in the ODI series.
In recent times, South Africa has done well in Tests and will be hoping that they beat Pakistan. So, ahead of the first Test, we are looking at the South Africa Playing 11.
South Africa Playing 11 vs Pakistan – 1st Test, Pakistan Tour of South Africa 2024-25:
Openers: Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi
Aiden Markram and Tony de Zorzi are set to be the openers in the Africa Playing 11 for the opening Test against Pakistan. Markram played all three ODIs against Pakistan but failed to score big. While he did get starts, he could not convert them.
The Proteas’ T20I captain’s scores in the series were 35, 21 and 19. The right-handed batsman will be eyeing a better show in the Test series.
Just like Markram, de Zorzi played all the three ODIs against Pakistan as well. The southpaw also got starts in all three games but could not convert them into big scores, registering knocks of 33, 34, and 26. He will also look to do well in the Test series.
Middle-order batsmen and allrounders: Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen
While Ryan Rickelton did not impress in the limited-overs series against Pakistan, he had a fine outing in the Gqeberha Test against Sri Lanka earlier this month.
The left-handed batsman scored a century in the first innings before scoring 24 runs in the second innings. The wicketkeeper-batsman will be eyeing a similar performance against Pakistan as well.
Tristan Stubbs played in just one ODI against Pakistan and was out for only 1 run in that game. Before that, he enjoyed a fine series against Sri Lanka. In the first Test, he scored 16 and 122 against the Islanders before registering scores of 4 and 47 in the second game.
Captain Temba Bavuma was South Africa’s star performer with the bat in their last Test assignment against Sri Lanka. He finished the series as the highest run-scorer, scoring 327 runs in a series where no other batsman could even touch the 200-run mark. Bavuma will look to lead his team from the front against Pakistan too.
David Bedingham will be definitely under pressure in the upcoming series. Even though he has not done well in recent times, he is likely to retain his spot in the African Playing 11. Bedingham scored only 66 runs in 2 Tests against Sri Lanka and will be keen to make amends.
The other players in the middle and lower-order will be wicketkeeper-batsmen Kyle Verreynne and allrounder Marco Jansen.
Bowlers: Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Kwena Maphaka
The hosts are likely to play the Test with three frontline bowlers in the African Playing 11. Kagiso Rabada will be leading the pace attack and is likely to have Kwena Maphaka as his bowling partner along with Jansen. Keshav Maharaj is expected to be the sole frontline spinner in the team.