PTI, Karachi :
Pakistan cricket team manager and chief selector Moin Khan has cautioned his players to stay focused ahead of the second Test against Australia in Abu Dhabi from Thursday.
“Coach Waqar Younis has been emphasising on staying focused and this is the best advice he has given to his players at this stage. Australia is a dangerous side and has all the potential to bounce back, and as such, we need to avoid complacency and being over-confident,” Moin said in a statement on Monday.
Moin announced that the same squad that won the first Test in Dubai had been retained for the coming match.
The former Test captain pointed out that there was added incentive for Pakistan if they performed well in Abu Dhabi.
“If they win, then they will jump to third behind South Africa and Australia in the ICC Test Rankings. This will be Pakistan’s highest ranking for some time. But, this will not come easy and we will have to play really hard and well to earn it,” Moin said.
He said the playing eleven would be finalised only after inspecting the pitch.
Moin praised the performance of veteran batsman Younis Khan, who scored twin centuries in the first Test to become Pakistan’s leading century maker with 26 hundreds.
“The selectors are encouraged and delighted with the performance of the Pakistan side in the first Test and a lot of credit must be given to Younis Khan, who utilised all his knowledge and experience to score two centuries in the Dubai Test. The selectors would like to congratulate him for becoming Pakistan’s leading century-maker,” he added.
Moin also spoke about the other notable performances in the first Test.
“There were notable performances from Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed, Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah, while Misbah marshalled his troops as well as he has done in the past. As stated in the past, matches against Australia will do a world of good to the development and confidence of the youngsters who will blossom into top class players cricketers under the wings of Younis and Misbah,” he said.
Pakistan squad: Ahmed Shehzad, Muhammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali, Muhammad Talha, Imran Khan, Ehsan Adil, Shaan Masood and Haris Sohail.
