The South Africa cricket team reached Karachi on Saturday for the first time in Pakistan after 14 years for the upcoming South Africa vs Pakistan Test series. South Africa last toured Pakistan for a two-match Test series in 2007 in which they dominated the hosts to win the series 1–0. The South African team reached Karachi on Saturday.
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After this, Pakistan hosted South Africa in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2010 and 2013. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) picked UAE as its home venue after the unfortunate terrorist attack in 2009 on a Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore.
The South African cricket team is slated to tour Pakistan for the three-match T20 International Series. The first match of the T20 series will start from 11 February. After the T20 series, both the teams will play against each other in a two-match Test series in Karachi (26–30 January) and Rawalpindi (4–8 February).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ht" dir="ltr">Touchdown Karachi! 🇵🇰🏏🇿🇦 <a href="https://news.abplive.com/sports/india-vs-australia-sunil-gavaskar-fumes-at-rohit-sharma-for-getting-out-on-nathan-lyon-s-delivery-1439661">#Proteas</a> <a >#SeeUsOnThePitch</a> <a >pic.twitter.com/DORzYCEl1X</a></p>— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) <a >January 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Security is TIGHT! 🚁<a >#Karachi</a> <a >#Pakistan</a> <a >#PAKvSA</a> 🇵🇰🇿🇦 <a >pic.twitter.com/SCjIOf22Pr</a></p>— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) <a >January 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made a big change in their squad for the two-Test series against South Africa, dropping six players who were part of Pakistan's tour of New Zealand, including Shan Masood, Haris Sohail and Imam-ul-Haq.
Chief selector Mohammad Wasim announced the 20-man squad on Friday which includes nine new faces. He has selected the players who have done well in the domestic circuit. Out of these 20 players, a 16-man squad will be named for the first Test match.
The selectors dropped six players after their poor performance in New Zealand while fast bowler Naseem Shah has not been named in the Test squad due to injury. The three other players who have been dropped from the New Zealand tour include spinner Zafar Gohar, fast bowler Mohammad Abbas and Sohail Khan.
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South Africa squad: Quinton de Kock (Captain), Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Kagiso Rabada, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Rassie van der Dussen, Anrich Nortje, Wiaan Mulder, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Kyle Verreynne, Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Tabraiz Shamsi, George Linde, Daryn Dupavillon, Marco Jansen
Pakistan Test squad: Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (Captain), Fawad Alam, Kamran Ghulam, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Yasir Shah, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Tabish Khan.