The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has named a 17-man squad for the first Test against South Africa of the two-match series, to be played at the National Stadium, Karachi from January 26 onwards. This is the first time South Africa is touring Pakistan since 2007.

In what will be Babar Azam's first Test as Pakistan's captain, he has a relatively young squad at his disposal with six uncapped players being given a chance, in the aftermath of the 0-2 Test series loss in New Zealand.

Nauman Ali and Sajid Khan will partner Yasir Shah in the spin department, while the pace attack includes Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, and Tabish Khan, alongside Hasan Ali. Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Nawaz are the only two all-round options.

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This is the first squad to be picked by new national selector Mohammad Wasim, who took over from Pakistan head-coach Misbah-Ul-Haq.

Meanwhile, batting coach Younis Khan had voiced the need to retain players for longer periods of time in order to not only enable the players to play freely but also give the coaches ample time to work with them.

Before this, Pakistan had left out Shan Masood, Mohammad Abbas, and Haris Sohail from the squad which played Tests in New Zealand. Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah are both still struggling with injuries, while Hasan Ali made his return to the Test squad.

Pakistan Test squad for first Test vs South Africa at Karachi:

Abid Ali, Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (c), Fawad Alam, Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Yasir Shah, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Tabish Khan