Team Pakistan is ready to play a two-day practice match against Victoria XI
Team Pakistan is ready to play a two-day practice game against Victoria XI before the Boxing Day Test against Australia on December 22 and 23. The all-rounder performance of Australia sunk Pakistan as the Asian Giants ended up suffering a massive 360-run defeat. Originally, this game was not a part of the tour, but Pakistan made a request to arrange the game due to concerns about a lack of practice. This game won't be like a four-day Test affair against the Prime Minister's XI; the Pakistan team will get the opportunity to try more than 11 players as it is not a first-class game.
Pakistan head coach Mohammad Hafeez said that "the Victoria tour game was something extra we added to the schedule because it wasn't there earlier. We wanted to have more practice than only one practice game. That had first-class status, so we couldn't give all the bowlers the chance to have a feel.”
He further added that, "That's the reason we wanted to have this practice game, so more guys could get a feel of a match scenario; we felt that would work well. We will definitely plan accordingly. All the players should use those two days to make themselves more familiar with the situations and the conditions.”