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By BV Swagath

After quite sometime, cricket fans will be treated with the purest form of the game which is Test Cricket. After a frantic Twenty20 World Championship, Pakistan and South Africa gear up in whites to play the first Test Match of a 2-Test Series from today. The big news for Pakistan is that the Board has succeeded in retaining their prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf in the national side after influencing him to cancel his contract with the Indian Cricket League.

Both Pakistan and South Africa are looking for a new era. South Africa are preparing their bowling attack to be without Shaun Pollock while Pakistan are under a new management with Geoff Lawson as the Coach and Shoaib Malik as the Captain. The pressure is simply on Shoaib Malik as all these years he never has been a regular member in the Test Team! The Pakistani Test Side will be without their strong pillar who has stood tall in more than a decade and that is Inzamam-ul-Haq. The Selectors have decided to shut the door on Inzy's career ever since he had decided to retire from ODIs. With South Africa having a strong pace battery, Pakistan might be careful in not giving a green track at Karachi. The homeside might be looking up to the two spinners in Danish Kaneria and left arm spinner Abdur Rehman to do most of the bowling. If Pakistan decides to go with two fast bowlers than for sure it is going to be just Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul. The batting for Pak will depend on the experienced duo of Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf.

Pakistan's Captain Shoaib Malik as said before will be under pressure to perform as a batsman as he has played just 18 Tests in a span of six years. Although the 25-year-old has struck a hundred in Test Cricket, he might just be too young in terms of experience at this format. Malik will have to score a big one early on in his captaincy stint to have the self confidence in leading the team. He is already off to a wonderful start as a leader after having driven Pakistan to the Final of the World Twenty20 Championship. Misbah-ul-Haq might be rewarded with a spot in the middle order as Inzamam's replacement. Mohammad Hafeez and Salman Butt are likely to be the two openers followed up by Younis, Yousuf, Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq most probably. Pakistan might be packing their batting as it is a Test Match after a long time and they might be on the defensive.

The Proteas are a very strong side with Jacques Kallis returning to the fold. He is the man capable of scoring the big ones by staying long at the crease while the rest of the batting revolves around him. On the bowling front, Proteas will be going with the three quicks in Ntini, Nel and Steyn along with Kallis. Morne Morkel might be out with an injury to his foot that was sustained during the warm-up game ahead of this first Test. Veteran Shaun Pollock was already dropped for this Test a few days back and it could just be a last minute decision if he has to be included in the final eleven instead of Dale Steyn. Pollock's inclusion might only be because of his wonderful ability and experience to handle spinners on a dry wicket more than his bowling which has been lacking the venom. Left arm spinner Paul Harris looks to be a certainty in the team as his spells might allow the fast bowlers a bit of rest. South Africa might retain their batting order in the match against the Patron's XI and that means that Graeme Smith, Gibbs to open the batting followed up by Amla, Kallis, Prince and AB de Villiers and then the wicket keeper batsman Mark Boucher.

Technically speaking South Africa looks to be the more formidable side with experience all around while Pakistan have a few weak links. It is for each of the Pakistani players to lift their respective games to save this home series. The first session of each day's play will be aiding seam bowlers most probably and that is the period to watch out for the batsmen. Reverse swing and spin will be the main elements working in favour of the bowlers in this Test Series. South African bowlers will be banking on bowling the short pitch deliveries to the Pakistani batsmen. From the Pakistani point of view, any batsman getting a start has got to take the responsibility to convert that into a big hundred. The South Africans apart from the cricket on the ground might just be confined to their hotel rooms as Pakistan as a country has been in the news for all the wrong reasons with several reports of bomb blasts coming in regularly. As far as history is concerned, there is hardly anything to write as SA have played only four Tests in Pakistan in which they won and lost a Test Match each.

Pakistan Squad for first Test : Salman Butt (Vice-Captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik (Captain), Misbah-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal (Wicket Keeper), Abdur Rehman, Iftikhar Anjum, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Asif

South Africa Squad : Graeme Smith (Captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher (Wicket Keeper), Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Paul Harris, Shaun Pollock, Morne Morkel, Jean-Paul Duminy

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