ZIM vs PAK: Pakistan Ready To Hand Test Debut To 36-Year-Old Seamer Tabish Khan

Pakistan could hand a surprise Test debut to 36-year-old seamer Tabish Khan in the second Test against Zimbabwe starting on Friday. Tabish has been a consistent performer at the domestic level in Pakistan with 598 first-class wickets.

Pakistan routed Zimbabwe by an innings and 116 runs in the first match in Harare and are keen to explore their fast bowling reserves ahead of a three-Test tour of the West Indies in July and August.

If he does play, Tabish will not be the oldest man to make his Pakistan Test bow. That honor belongs to Miran Bux who was 47 years and 284 days old when he played against India at Lahore in the 1954-55 season.

Pakistan will be aiming to complete a clean sweep of series wins on their southern Africa tour. They defeated South Africa in one-day and T20 series before moving north to win a T20 series against Zimbabwe.

Pakistan dominated the first Test on a slow Harare pitch, with Hasan Ali mainly responsible for bowling out the home side for under 200 in both innings.

Hasan had match figures of nine for 89. Fawad Alam hit a century for Pakistan in a solid batting performance in which the only top-order batsman to fail was skipper Babar Azam, who was out the first ball to Donald Tiripano.

 

But if it was a rare batting failure for Pakistan's star, Babar had the satisfaction of becoming the first Pakistan captain to win his first three Tests in charge – a record which he will be expected to improve upon in the coming days. "We won the first Test with great confidence and will take that momentum into the second Test," Babar said Thursday.

"We need to play like that as we want to end the Africa tour on a high. Our next series is in the West Indies which will be totally different so we want to have a settled Test squad."

Zimbabwe's slim prospects of leveling the series suffered a further blow on Thursday when three leading batsmen were ruled out of the Test. Opening batsman Prince Masvaure will be missing after suffering a fractured left thumb while fielding in the first Test.

The experienced duo of Sean Williams and Craig Ervine will again be absent, having failed to recover fully from injuries that kept them out of the opener. Brendan Taylor will again stand in as captain in place of Williams.

Zimbabwe Cricket announced in a statement that Wesley Madhevere had been added to the squad, while the uncapped Takudzwanashe Kaitano, who was added as cover for the first Test, had been retained.

Madhevere, 20, has shown promise in white-ball internationals but failed to score in all three innings in his debut Test series against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi in March.