The Lahore Test will begin on October 12.
South Africa will begin their World Test Championship (WTC) title defence with a two-match Test series in Pakistan, where they expect a stern spin challenge. Aiden Markram will lead the side after Temba Bavuma’s absence due to injury. The stand-in captain is confident in his team’s preparations despite a lack of red-ball experience in spin-dominant subcontinental conditions for several batters.
The Proteas are scheduled to lock horns with Pakistan for the two Tests later this month, followed by two matches in India in November.
The current Proteas team hasn’t played red-ball cricket together since the WTC 2025 Final in June. Some players featured in the two-Test Zimbabwe series, some took time off, while a few participated in the County Championship. Their preparations include only a two-day training camp in Pretoria, where they created roughs on practice pitches in an attempt to reduce Pakistan’s home advantage.
Markram acknowledged that Pakistan, within its rights, would look to test South Africa with turning tracks.
“If it’s your home game, you can pretty much prepare whatever wicket you’d like to prepare. That’s how I see it. Ultimately, if it’s going to be extreme like it was in the English series, then it’s going to be difficult for both teams from a batting point of view. For us as a squad, we’ve just got to be happy with what we have. So I’m not too fussed by it,” Markram said ahead of the team’s departure on Monday.
The South Africa captain’s reference to the England series points to Pakistan’s 2024 home season, when they altered their pitches midway through the three-match Test series against England. After losing the first Test on a belter of a pitch, the Shan Masood-led side won the next two matches in Lahore and Rawalpindi on tracks that turned square, courtesy of industrial fans and heaters to windbreakers to dry out the surfaces. South Africa are scheduled to play in Lahore and Rawalpindi, where 29 off 31 wickets in the England Test fell to spin.
While no pitch in South Africa behaves like those in the subcontinent, where the bounce dies and pace slows as the match progresses. The visitors conducted a specialised training camp at the High Performance Centre, emulating the conditions, focusing on spinning wickets.
“There are three pitches that are spinning quite a bit, and two out of those three are really exaggerated. We’re trying to tick all the boxes.”
The Proteas will also miss the services of Bavuma, who was the team’s leading run scorer in the last WTC cycle. South Africa have a big challenge to fill the void, with Dewald Brevis and Tony de Zorzi being the leading contenders to replace the batter. Zubayr Hamza has also won a recall and will give competition to the duo. The decision would depend on who does well in the training sessions, although Brevis might be preferred for his ability to hit spin.
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South Africa have picked a spin-heavy squad, including three spinners – left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy, offspinners Simon Harmer, and Prenelam Subrayen. Keshav Maharaj, who will miss the first Test due to rehab after injury, is expected to join the squad for the second one.
“They’re all quite different. If you look at the two off-spinners to start with, Simon and Subs, it’s two completely different challenges they throw at you. That’s something great to have as a squad. You don’t really want similar types of spinners. They are each quite different, different paces, different types of spin in terms of side spin and overspin and stuff like that, which react differently off the wickets.”
The first Test of the series starts on October 12, with the second Test slated for October 20. The red-ball series will be followed by three ODIs and three T20Is.
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