CENTURIAN: Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Tuesday unveiled their Playing XI for the first Test of the two-match series against Pakistan, scheduled to start here on December 26.
The Boxing Day Test will be played at the Supersport Park and will feature almost the same team that played in the final Test against Sri Lanka earlier this month, with one change.
Experienced spinner Keshav Maharaj was ruled out of the first Test due to an injury and was replaced by uncapped all-rounder Corbin Bosch in the Playing XI.
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Maharaj suffered a groin strain just before the first ODI against Pakistan and was replaced by all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo in the line-up.
Following the injury, Maharaj underwent a series of scans to evaluate the extent of the damage. The results confirmed that he is dealing with a left adductor strain.
Bosch will be joining Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Dan Paterson to form an all-pace bowling attack.
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Tony de Zorzi and Aiden Markram are expected top open the innings with Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma, and David Bedingham to follow.
The Test series against Pakistan is vital for South Africa as they aim to strengthen their chances for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final.
South Africa Playing XI: Temba Bavuma (c), Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson, Corbin Bosch