Pakistan will be up against Bangladesh in the opening Test match which is set to take place at Mirpur. Pakistan are coming into this on the back of a T20 filled month with the Pakistan Super League taking place in the last few months. On the other hand, Bangladesh have played a series with New Zealand recently. Both sides will be keen to start this new red ball cycle on a positive note. Neither of these two sides have played Test cricket in the last six months so there will be a new start. In this article we take a look at the predicted Playing XI for both these sides.
Bangladesh will be led by Najmul Hossain Shanto and they have a relatively settled side in Test cricket. The surface is expected to help the pacers and the home side are set to go with three pace attack with Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. The batting order is a settled one and Litton Das is expected to take the gloves.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Mahmudul Hasan Joy, 2 Shadman Islam, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Litton Das (wk), 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Taijul Islam, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Nahid Rana
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Pakistan will be having a debut at the top of the order with either Azan Awais or Abdullah Fazal set to open with Imam ul Haq. They are also likely to play with two spinners and two pacers. Mohammad Rizwan is set to be the wicket-keeper for the side.
Pakistan: 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Abdullah Fazal/Azan Awais, 3 Shan Masood (capt), 4 Babar Azam, 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Salman Ali Agha, 8 Shaheen Afridi, 9 Noman Ali, 10 Khurram Shahzad/Hasan Ali, 11 Sajid Khan
The surface at Mirpur will be a sporting one and this promises to be a highly competitive game between these two sides and this new red ball cycle is set to begin for these two sides. This should be a very exciting game and we can expect plenty of entertainment.
