Australia’s final practice session for 24 years was washed out by rain on the eve of the first Test in Pakistan on Friday and the team is still considering whether to go with two spinners or three pacers in the match.
Captain Pat Cummins told the media on Thursday that he would name the playing XI on Friday morning after taking another look at the pitch of the match. The curators have drawn up two pitches and the Aussies were speculating on Thursday which of those pitches would be used and how it would behave after cover for most of Wednesday and Thursday.
The Australian think tank on the tour is faced with whether he should go into the match with another spinner or take Nathan Lyon as the lone spinner and three quicks. The selectors are expected to meet on Thursday afternoon and decide on the playing XI but the announcement will be made only at the toss.
That dilemma resulted in the team failing to announce their playing XI the day before the start of the match, as they had done during the recent Ashes series at home.
“There’s no XI yet,” Cummins told reporters on Thursday morning. “We’re pretty sure but we want to take another look at the wicket, which we probably won’t get today,” Cummins said. As stated by the Australian media.
“After this evening, we will work on the exact XI or tomorrow morning,” he said.
Cummins declined to say who had a good chance of joining Lyon in the playing XI should Australia decide to go with a second spinner, adding that both Mitch Swepson and Ashton Agar were “ready to go”. ” Were.
If they decide to go with three quicks, Cummins could turn to Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne to provide leg-spin options. “But two spinners, three quicks, we have a good idea of what we want to do, but don’t want to rush the call without knowing fully what the wicket is.”
If the visitors decide to go with the three quicks, it will be a toss-up between Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland and Cameron Green, with two of the captains involved.
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