Pakistan set to begin new ICC WTC cycle

Pakistan are set to take on South Africa in the first of the two-Test match series commencing at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Sunday.

The second Test will be played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from 20 to 24 October. The Test matches are part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 and will be followed by six white-ball matches (three T20Is and three ODIs) between the two sides from 28 October to 8 November.

The Test series marks the start of a new cycle for the Pakistan Men’s team in the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 and their first opponents are South Africa – the champions of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25.

According to a press release issued by PCB, this will also be the first occasion since the inception of the ICC World Test Championship in 2019 that Pakistan will be playing their opening series of a WTC cycle at home.

In the 2019-21 WTC, they began the cycle with an away tour to Australia, while in 2021-23 they began the Championship with a tour of the West Indies. In the previous 2023-25 cycle, Pakistan started their campaign with a tour of Sri Lanka.

In head-to-head games, Pakistan have played 30 Test matches against South Africa, winning six, while South Africa have been victorious on 17 occasions and seven matches have ended in a draw. In 13 Test matches (nine in Pakistan and four in the UAE) between the two teams, Pakistan have won four, South Africa three, while six Tests have ended in draws.

In World Test Championship matches, both sides have played four Tests, winning two each. South Africa last toured Pakistan for two Tests in January–February 2021, which the hosts won 2-0. For Pakistan in the WTC against South Africa, Babar Azam has scored 315 runs in four Tests, including four half-centuries, while Mohammad Rizwan has scored 283 runs in four Tests, including a century.

In the bowling department, Hasan Ali has taken 12 wickets in two ICC World Test Championship matches against South Africa. All three players are part of the 16-member squad for the forthcoming Test series.

Pakistan captain Shan Masood, talking to PCB Digital ahead of the Test series said: “The main goal for any team is always to win the championship, but I think for us it’s about starting off well, and we have got the perfect opposition, the team that won the last Test Championship. To play against them in our home conditions is a great opportunity for us.

“Any challenge in the Test Championship is always going to test you, but for us, it allows us to measure ourselves against the best teams in the world. Hopefully, if we can put in a good performance, we will know that we are right up there and in the reckoning.

“It’s very important, I think, if you look at the teams that have played the final and won the championship, they have always done well in their home Test matches. Again, for us, it’s about finding that blueprint at home and it’s very important to start off well at home.”

South Africa captain Aiden Markram said: “It’s an exciting start to the new cycle. It’s great to be in Pakistan and I am really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a challenging but fun series, so it’s great to be here and we are all eager to get started.

“You win Test matches and Test series by being good in all facets of the game, so it’s going to be a unique challenge for us coming from South African conditions to Pakistani conditions a challenge our players are looking forward to. We will assess things early, see how the wicket plays and come up with some good plans.”

Pakistan 16-member squad: Shan Masood (captain), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Asif Afridi, Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Noman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wicket-keeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi