PERTH – Green Shirts are set to take on Australia in the first Test of the three-match Benaud-Qadir Trophy at Perth Stadium on 14 December.
The first ball is expected to be bowled at 0720 PKT.
Pakistan currently top the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 points table after having started the campaign on a winning note against Sri Lanka earlier this year.
Overall, Pakistan are ranked sixth on the ICC Men’s Test team rankings.
Reigning world Test champions, Australia will be kicking off their second series of the ongoing WTC cycle.
Australia are ranked fifth on the table after their series against England, where they won two, lost two and drew a game.
Pakistan’s last Test tour to Aussie shores yielded a two-nil loss in 2019-20. In the recent Test series between both sides in March 2022, Australia took the honours with a 1-0 victory in the three-match Test series held in Pakistan.
Shan Masood, who became Pakistan’s 35th Test captain ahead of the series, will be playing his first game as captain.
The first match of the series will be a milestone game for Babar Azam as he will feature in his 50th Test match for Pakistan.
Babar Azam is ranked fourth in the ICC Test batters rankings. Shaheen Shah Afridi is ranked fifth in the Test bowlers rankings.
Shaheen bagged six wickets in Pakistan’s first two WTC 2023-25 matches earlier this year.
In the ongoing WTC cycle, Saud Shakeel and Abdullah Shafique are the two leading run-scorers for Pakistan with 295 and 228 runs respectively.
Salman Ali Agha has amassed 221 runs in the championship and has also picked up three wickets.
