After a disappointing draw in the first Test at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Pakistan and Australia will face-off in the second match scheduled to commence on 12 March at National Stadium Karachi.
Both the teams will be looking to gain an upper hand and win the second Test after dropping crucial points in the World Test Championship 2021-23.
It is expected that the pitch at National Stadium Karachi will offer assistance to the spinners and both the teams are expected to field a couple of spinners in the line-up. While Australia is expected to include leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson in the line-up to bolster the spin bowling department, Pakistan will once again go with Nauman Ali and Sajid Khan as main spin-bowling options.
Pakistan was forced to make two changes to their line-up in the first Test match as Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf were ruled out.
While Hasan has recovered and is expected to be included in the line-up, Faheem has tested positive for COVID-19 and is unavailable for the second Test. This puts Pakistan in a spot of bother yet again as Faheem has played a crucial part as a third seamer and has been exceptional with the bat lower down the order.
Pakistan will likely make one change to their line-up with Hasan Ali coming into the team at the expense of Iftikhar Ahmed. It is expected that the management will go with one batter less with Nauman Ali and Hasan Ali getting the job to fill in the gap left by Faheem Ashraf. 5 genuine bowlers and 6 genuine batters are likely to be included in the team.
Here is the predicted line-up for the second Pakistan vs Australia Test:
| 1 | Abdullah Shafique |
| 2 | Imam-ul-Haq |
| 3 | Azhar Ali |
| 4 | Babar Azam (c) |
| 5 | Fawad Alam |
| 6 | Mohammad Rizwan (wk) |
| 7 | Nauman Ali |
| 8 | Hasan Ali |
| 9 | Shaheen Afridi |
| 10 | Sajid Khan |
| 11 | Naseem Shah |
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